Blessings
by lxXxJerBearxXxl
Summary: Naruto has completed his goal of peace in the Elemental Nations, but at the cost of his own life. However fate has other plans. Now Naruto has made a deal with the Shinigami itself, by going into a foreign world and assisting in establishing peace once again in this land. This will also be his only shot at returning home. Will he succeed?
1. Chapter 1

Naruto didn't truly understand where he was at the moment, or recall what he had been doing before entering wherever he was now. All he currently knew was his name, and absolute pain. Pure, unrestricted agony that felt like it was affecting every cell in his body. He tried to scream, but no noise passed his chapped lips.

He definitely felt another presence with him, but what was weird was that he could feel the presence everywhere around him, surrounding him in an ominous and invisible shroud. Naruto only knew that there was another being around him due to its immense power. Even with the overbearing power surrounding his body, it was barely noticeable due to the overly intense pain his entire body felt. He couldn't even open his eyes to take a quick glance of his surroundings.

"**Rise mortal…"**

Upon hearing the simple demand, Naruto was alleviated of his previous pain, but almost as quickly as the pain subsided, he felt immensely fatigued. Even with his well-known stamina and endurance, it took all he had to obey the demand of this currently unknown being. Naruto groaned as he made his first attempt at moving his tired body. The first stage was rolling over so his stomach was on the ground. The second stage was pushing his body off of the smooth ground, which was much more difficult than he could have imagined. Naruto stopped his attempt at getting to his feet on his hands and knees, panting heavily, trying to fill his lungs with much needed oxygen due to the strain he was putting his body through. After a full minute of slowly attempting to catch his breath, he opened his right eye slowly, and when he did, he fell backwards in clear surprise. It seemed that he had forgotten his previous fatigue, but it came back in full force that was nearly enough to make him pass out from the sudden effort he had just put his body through.

In front of him was something that not even his apparent amnesia could force him to forget. Although he had never met this entity in person, his half Uzumaki blood suddenly ran cold upon witnessing the apparition. The reason being was that this apparition was very well known in the Uzumaki clan as it was used in the one seal that nobody should use unless it was an absolute last resort, and even then it wasn't recommended. Floating before the Uzumaki-Namikaze child was the death god himself, the Shinigami. Naruto had never truly seen it as far as he could remember, which currently wasn't a lot, but he knew it was too early to witness this terrifying ghost-like god. He easily towered over Naruto in both height and width. His hair was a dim white color and was absolutely unruly. It was long, thick, and had no sign of proper treatment prior to this engagement. Two devil-like horns protruded from the mass of hair. His clothing seemed to only be a large robe that exposed his open, seemingly ill-nourished torso. The sleeves hung down below his waist and his fingers were just barely exposed. The last and most imposing feature of the death god was his face. His eyes were hallowed and pitch black with an almost sad expression, while his mouth showed was seemed to be the complete opposite. He was sporting a wide, sharp toothed grin as he bit down on a large, straight, pristine knife. Whether the death god's face was truly his or this was a sort of mask hiding his true, more terrifying visage, Naruto didn't know or want to find out.

"**Rise mortal. Do not test my patience." **The Shinigami said with a voice that Naruto couldn't exactly figure out. It sounded like a mixture of different voices with emotions ranging from sorrowful to pure hatred to prodigious joy and mirth. Somehow Naruto knew that none of these voices or emotions truly belonged to the death god, but were of those he had taken the souls of.

Pushing himself past his currently pathetic limit, Naruto slowly rose to his feet, letting out exerted grunts. After several long minutes, Naruto shakily rose to his feet and took in several desperate intakes of precious oxygen. Naruto opened both of his blue eyes that were once a beautiful and clear blue, were now a dull and almost clouded dark blue. Naruto felt slight fear being in the presence of the death god, but also felt at peace. Something he somehow knew he hadn't felt in a long time.

"**Naruto Uzumaki. Your life has been short and painful beyond belief. Honestly I expected to see you sooner," **the death god said with the same level of speaking as before, **"You have defied both your fate as a pariah to your village and a failure as a shinobi, but through all of the verbal and physical abuse, you persevered and proved that you are not the demon your village claims you to be through sheer willpower."**

Several memories flashed in Naruto's mind. Bits and pieces of his childhood forced themselves to the surface. The beatings, the ridicule, the pure hatred behind each glare sent his way. Naruto gripped his hair tightly in an attempt to shove these painful memories aside, but they weren't having any of it. His now present migraine increased with each memory that was forced back into Naruto's mind.

As Naruto held back a pained scream, the Shinigami continued, **"Over time, your village began to acknowledge you and praise you. It was only after your battle with a puppet used by a distant relative of yours, Nagato Uzumaki, and the battle with said relative that your village** **finally accepted you with open arms and a smile. You somehow felt no resentment towards their sudden change of heart due to your pure being. This became your strength when you took the first step to take control of the demon that was sealed inside you by facing your darkness. Later you were able to harness the powers of the demon and even later than that, you became his friend." **The Shinigami said, with absolutely zero changes in his expression or tone.

At the mention of these feats, Naruto's memories changed to less painful ones, his battle with Pain/Nagato being the first. That had been the most difficult battle of his life. He had arrived at his village merely seconds after Pain had wiped out nearly every building that once stood. He remembered feeling the life energy of those around him, and as if to add to his already rampant emotions upon seeing his godfather's murderer(s), he learned that his sensei had also been slain by these walking, piercing covered corpses. Naruto would have lost that fight if it wasn't for the sudden attack by a dark blue haired beauty that held a look of determination in her pale eyes that he was sure nobody else could possibly hold.

'Hinata…' Naruto remembered. He was reminded of her sudden confession. He remembered the guilt he felt for not giving her an answer. Even now he wasn't sure what his answer would be, but now he felt like he'd never be able to give her a response.

Naruto pleaded for her to retreat and leave him to his captor, but she calmly refused. She knew she was possibly going to die. In fact it was basically inevitable at this point, but that wasn't going to stop her. She proclaimed her love for him just before she took a combat stance and the one-sided battle ensued. The only way Pain was defeated was when the seal that held the nine-tailed beast inside Naruto had weakened almost to the point of breaking due to Naruto witnessing what he thought was the death of Hinata.

The next memory was at the waterfall where he spoke to his inner self. This was a strange experience all together seeing a teenager looking exactly like him except for two noticeable details. One being the black eyes with red pupils, and two being the dark and tainted personality. Naruto failed to beat his own darkness in his first attempt when he tried using brute force, but succeeded the second time after accepting his darkness as a part of him, which later let him gain access to fighting Kurama, the nine-tailed demon sealed within him. Another battle he would have lost if not for the intervention of another woman of obvious beauty, his mother. With her help, he was able to take Kurama's power as his own, much to the more than noticeable annoyance and anger of Naruto's tenant. They became friends after they found a common enemy in Obito Uchiha and Madara Uchiha.

"**After yet another life or death battle with a demigod in his own right, Madara Uchiha and later on Kaguya, the Rabbit Goddess. As you may or may not be currently aware of, that led to your final battle with Sasuke Uchiha, which inevitably led to both your deaths. This is why you are here now. You are the first to be granted this from me, a second chance due to all of your good deeds and achievements. Nobody has achieved this chance in any lifetime. There are going to be a few changes, most of them will be very drastic, but I feel that you will accept them." **The death god stated, now looming over Naruto, awaiting his response.

Naruto had no words to describe his thoughts. He had several emotions running through his very core at once. Joy, pain, relief, betrayal, and so many more. His memories were returning to the point where only bits and pieces were missing. He wanted to return to his friends, to his home, but that may not be the case. This offer had to have some form of catch, some sort of drawback.

"What will change?" Naturo croaked out. His voice was raspy and ragged. The death god straightened his back once more.

"**Before I start, I ask that you do not interrupt me. I am short on time and I don't like to be asked more than the necessary amount of questions." **The Shinigami paused, waiting for Naruto's agreement to not interrupt the explanation that will be rather lengthy. After Naruto weakly nodded, the Shinigami continued, **"Good answer. Now what I am about to offer you is better than death, in my opinion. The first part of this agreement is that you will not be returning to your world by my means," **Naruto's eyes widened in shock and he was just about to protest, but was shot down when he remembered what was actually happening, while noticing Naruto's reaction, he did not stop his explanation. **"If you are able to return by your own ability, you may do so, but only after some of my terms have been met. Which I will explain in a moment." **The Shinigami paused for a mere second, **"This world you will be entering is one somewhat like your own. Instead of chakra, the people of this world use magic. This energy is derived from a different source than your chakra, however. While chakra is manifested from your very own body, magic is an energy that is constantly present around the world. It can he absorbed or harnessed by what this world calls mages. Magic is a large part of the daily lives of the people of this world, known as Earthland. I am sending you to this world so that you can do what you have accomplished in your world, peace. I am not just the death god of your world. I am the death god of many worlds, although I take different forms, but even an immortal entity such as myself grows tired from the constant work. I sense many dark powers rising in Earthland, and I wish to have a bit of weight lifted off of me. You are already powerful compared to even the strongest of mages in Earthland, but to further your own success, I will grant you some of the abilities and/or weapons of those who you have known in your life that are currently deceased. Do you accept?" **The Shinigami asked, but it barely sounded like a question. It sounded more like a demand.

Naruto stared at the ground in deep thought. He honestly didn't want to fight anymore. He was so tired of constantly fighting on order to gain peace, and once he had finally found it, he was killed by his friend and rival. He promised Itachi that he would protect Sasuke, but ironically, he killed him. He was so infuriated with himself for being so blind to Sasuke's own darkness, but if there was a chance he could return to the ones he loved, he was going to take it. The death god said that if he could find a way to return to his home from Earthland, he would be allowed to.

"I accept," Naruto said with slight determination in his voice.

The death god nodded, "**You will leave momentarily, but I will first tell you about the people who will grant you their power one way or another. These are people who you have affected positively before their demise. Only the strongest of these people will present themselves to you, but luckily, you have made strong connections to powerful ninja in your time. Unfortunately for you, when you go into Earthland, you won't remember this conversation, or the conversations that you are about to have with these people. You will have a more difficult time activating some of their powers more than others, but you will figure them out with time. Once these abilities are discovered, you will remember what will be said between these people and yourself. Are we clear?" **The Shinigami finished, awaiting Naruto's response.

Naruto answered after a few long seconds of trying to comprehend this news. He wouldn't even know whose power he has until he somehow unlocked it, which he didn't even know how he would or how he would be able to unlock those powers.

"Yes," Naruto said with even more determination as he clenched his fists in preparation for his new assignment.

The Shinigami nodded in acknowledgement before taking the long dagger out of his mouth, **"Then, Naruto Uzumaki, our business is concluded." **The Shinigami said. Then in a flash, the death god stabbed his dagger deep into Naruto's chest.

Naruto was now very confused. First he was fighting for his life against Sasuke, and then he was nearly asleep in a free fall. He could feel wind blowing violently through his clothes at his increasing velocity. He slowly opened his eyes and saw the increasingly close ground. He had no time to right his fall as he was sent crashing through a ceiling of a large building, and then through yet another floor until he formed a crater in the building's basement area. Naruto felt no pain however, which he found strange. Perhaps his healing capabilities were increasing? Not likely, but he would keep that in mind at least.

Naruto didn't quite register the gasps when he was sent through the roof, but he definitely heard all of the shouts of surprise when they saw him slowly standing up. He stumbled somewhat, but was caught by two figures he couldn't make out the shapes of. He just saw blobs of mixed colors. When he tried to focus, he regretted it almost immediately as a sudden wave of nausea hit him with full force. He was barely able to hold in his vomit through the whole experience.

Soon enough, he was hauled into a white room with a few windows where the rays of the sun outside shone through brightly. His carriers laid him on a somewhat soft bed before he was surrounded by several different blobs that were talking incoherently. Naruto heard a much louder voice enter the room, effectively silencing everyone. The next thing Naruto knew, nearly everyone was out of the room at a hurried pace, leaving only three to remain. One blob, which was the same height as one blob, but much taller than the third, made an attempt to get closer and reached out their (what he assumed was a) hand. Instinctively, Naruto reached into his pouch, which was surprisingly there considering his last memory, and pulled out a kunai, ignoring his nausea the best he possibly could. The second blob made to pull something from its side, but was stopped by a shout from the shorter blob. Naruto looked between the three blobs slowly. He didn't feel any sort of harmful intent coming from these things, so he withdrew his kunai reluctantly. The hand once again appeared before him, slower this time. Seeing as how Naruto didn't show any signs of pulling another weapon out, the hand moved until it was on his chest, gently pushing him down. Naruto went along with the gentle force until he was lying comfortably on the bed he was on. Almost as soon as his head hit the soft pillow, he fell into a dreamless sleep.

Naruto woke once again, now feeling much more restored and energized than before, but still had some feeling of fatigue. He pushed his body up, thankfully no longer feeling his previous nausea. This time it was nighttime and the room was filled with silence. Naruto wanted to call out so someone, but decided that if the people who aided him lived in this building, it would be rude of him to wake them. He may be an idiot, but at least he had knew enough not to be rude to anyone who offered their help, regardless of the situation.

Naruto slowly left his comfortable bet and with trained stealth and dexterity he walked at a moderate pace, making zero noise to the untrained ear. There were very few rooms in this building, but each room was rather large. There was what he assumed was the main lobby of the building, consisting of wooden tables surrounded by wooden chairs. He could tell that some of these tables and chairs were rather old, but some looked like they were made recently. There was a large bar at the opposite end of the entrance to the building. Several types of alcohol and mugs lined the wall in all shapes and sizes. There was a bulletin board with so many papers, they were barely hanging on the wood of the board itself. He idly wondered why there were so many papers and for what they were for, but decided to wait until he was familiar with his surroundings. Naruto saw that there were stairs that ran up from the side of the bar to a second floor. He was about to ascend the staircase when a purposefully audible clearing of a throat put him on the alert. Naruto quickly jumped back and drew his kunai once again, but what he saw was not at all what he expected.

"Is that how you greet everyone who approaches you?" A short, elderly man said with amusment in his voice. Naruto was surprised by just how short this man actually was. Naruto was unsure if the man could come up to his own waist. The man had a white and bushy mustache that matched his aging hairstyle, which was spiked on the sides, but was completely bald at the top. His slate black eyes expressed his experienced earned by his age. He wore black pants and a white collared shirt, which was worn under a maroon vest and had simple brown shoes. The final piece of clothing was a tan cape hung on his shoulders with a long collar.

"No, but I'm not sure where I am, so forgive me if I seem hostile to you, old man." Naruto said with a calm tone, but it had an underlying tone of caution.

The man raised his hands in order to show Naruto that he wasn't a threat. "It's quite alright boy. You can never be too careful. We are strangers to you after all. However, I would like to fix that." The old man stated. After a few moments Naruto twirled his kunai and slid it into his pouch in one swift motion. He was impressed with the skill and ease that Naruto sheathed his weapon while keeping direct eye contact with him.

"Well first of, how about we exchange our names, hm? I am Makarov Dreyer." The now dubbed Makarov said with a smile, finally bringing his hands back down to his sides.

Naruto smiled, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Nice to meet you," Naruto stated brightly. Makarov nodded, now acknowledging the blond before him.

"It's nice to meet you Naruto. Where are you from? You certainly don't look like you are from around here."

"I'm from The Village Hidden in the Leaves, Konoha," Naruto said. Makarov raised an eyebrow at this. He would like to consider himself pretty well versed in the different areas in Earthland, but he had never heard of such a place as Konoha.

"Do you know where you are right now?" Makarov asked. Naruto pondered for a second, but shook his head. Makarov sighed.

"Naruto, you are in Magnolia, inside of a guild known as Fairy Tail." Makarov said. Naruto blankly stared at the man.

Now having a more level head, Naruto remembered his memories prior to this situation. His long battle with Madara and Obito, followed by his battle with Kaguya, and finished by his battle with Sasuke. At this point Naruto's breathing began to pick up. He had won right? His friends were safe… right? Naruto was beginning to have a nervous breakdown until Makarov enlarged his hand and lightly chopped Naruto's head, snapping him out of his nervous thoughts.

Seeing how Makarov had Naruto's attention once more, he spoke, "I apologize for hitting you, but you needed to calm down. Now I'm not sure where it is that you are from but I will try to assist you any way I can. Unfortunately I can only accommodate you for a short time until you are able to support yourself here. However, I can tell that you are the fighting sort of individual if your initial reaction to us was any sort of factor. Nobody falls through a roof and pulls a knife on their saviors without being trained to be that cautious and quick."

Naruto nodded slowly. Naruto wasn't sure exactly where he was going with this, but he would need as much help as he could get in this foreign land.

Makarov continued, "So I have a proposition for you. You can join my guild temporarily. You wouldn't even need to receive a guild mark unless you wish to stay with us permanently. I can explain to the other members that your acceptance into the guild is going to be different, so they at least won't bother you as much, but knowing them they will try to assimilate you into our family as soon as possible." Makarov finished, chuckling to himself.

At this point Naruto was very confused, but to him it sounded like a guild took in fighters to hire. There were other members that from Makarov's description would probably try and approach him and be friendly with them. Naruto didn't mind that too much actually. He got along well enough with people, hopefully they would be around his age. Although he would have to try and not get too attached to him.

"I accept I guess. Not like I have many options anyways," Naruto said with a small smile. Makarov nodded and held his hand upwards towards Naruto. Naruto met the old man's hand halfway and grasped it firmly before shaking once.

'I can see the pain in your eyes, along with the confusion and anxiety. My children and I will try our best to assist you in your plight.' Makarov thought hopefully.


	2. Distractions

Naruto and Makarov had been talking for well over an hour with time left to spare since it was still too early for other members to arrive, but within the time that they had spoken… Makarov was stumped.

He had never heard of any of these places that the young blond was describing. Makarov was trying to assist Naruto with figuring out where he was and where he was supposed to be. Makarov could tell that Naruto was getting more frustrated and even more distraught. Naruto had told Makarov a brief summary of his most recent memories. Naruto didn't go into further detail for a couple reasons.

One, Naruto didn't know this man. Sure, he was grateful that the old man was helping him out, but he was also in a foreign land. For all he knew, this 'Magnolia' place could be some village under a powerful genjutsu to hide itself from foreign eyes. Even given his situation, Naruto didn't want to disclose information to a person he wasn't willing to trust yet. He had already had his trust broken before. He wouldn't let it happen again.

Two, as much as the situation called for it, he wanted to forget about his most recent memories. So much pain and death had happened so fast around him. He was almost positive that he shouldn't even be alive. It was also strange that his clothes were in pristine condition, and he had some storage scrolls in his pocket with extra equipment.

Makarov sighed wearily. It was far too early to be dealing with this sort of thing. From what he gathered, Naruto was a ninja. Not the kind that Natsu jokes around as on occasion, Naruto was a legitimate ninja. He was skilled in espionage, assassinations, and other odd skills. As to how strong Naruto really was, he wasn't sure. Naruto didn't tell him anything about what his exact skills were. When he first heard this, Makarov felt concerned for himself and the guilds safety, but the feeling was quickly shaken away. He couldn't see the desire to kill in Naruto's eyes. It seemed like Naruto only killed for self-defense and to defend his friends. He might fit in rather well in with Fairy Tail.

Naruto asked Makarov if he knew some of the landmarks that he was describing. With each one Makarov shook his head. Naruto seemed even more desperate for a positive answer at this point, but unfortunately Makarov couldn't give him one.

Once the sun finally started to rise, Makarov asked Naruto how he wanted to be introduced into the guild. Naruto asked if it could happen slowly, but that option was turned down. Once one person knew he was there, the news would quickly spread. Naruto frowned and just decided to sit in a corner booth and hide himself until someone noticed him. In all honesty he was nervous. He was never nervous with meeting one or two new people. In fact he accepted it with open arms, but to be introduced to a large number of people that he didn't know anything about was a bit unsettling.

Makarov sighed, but accepted Naruto's option. He wasn't about to fight Naruto on his decision. Naruto wasn't a little kid, nor did Makarov know him that well. Naruto could just be very shy for all he knew.

Before Naruto could move from his position from the bar he was sitting at with Makarov, the doors to the main entrance opened. Naruto instinctively snapped his head in the direction of the noise while Makarov didn't even bother turning from his position. Only one person showed up this early in the morning.

"Good morning Mirajane," Makarov said kindly. 'This might actually be good for Naruto. Being introduced to the friendliest member first, and with no other distractions.' Makarov thought. While waiting patiently for a response from either of the other people in the room.

"Good morning master!" Mirajane said cheerfully, then she turned her attention to the other man in the room, who was staring curiously and slightly nervously at her. "Oh, who might you be?"

Naruto didn't respond for a few moments. He was taking in the young woman's features. The first thing he noticed was her eyes. They were a nice shade of blue, but they also seemed a bit bigger than an average person's eyes, but who was he to judge. The girl also had a strange hairstyle. Her white hair fell freely down her back, but in the front there was a clump of hair that was tied off and cut short. It wasn't a bad hairstyle, but it was definitely unique. The more perverted side of him noticed her figure. If he wasn't so good at holding in his inner perv he probably would have had a nosebleed on the spot. Her dress hugged the top half of her body tightly, leaving little to the imagination. It took all he had to continue to hold eye contact with her.

Makarov turned to face Mirajane and looked between her and Naruto. It seemed like Naruto wasn't going to say anything, so he figured he would have to start things off, "Mirajane, meet Naruto Uzumaki. He is a new temporary mage here. He's a bit of a nomad, so I'm helping him get used to city life. He's the one who made the rather destructive entrance remember?" Makarov said calmly. It was a decent cover story. Makarov didn't know how to cover up Naruto's entrance through the roof, but maybe he could play it off as some sort of weird nomad ignorance to city life. As a simple nomad that wasn't used to remaining in one place, thus never knowing certain things like guilds and such, Naruto could play off his arrival to the guild decently enough. This also gave Naruto some leeway in terms of remaining in the guild or not. If he left, Makarov could simply say that Naruto wasn't enjoying city life.

Mirajane quickly approached the blond and outstretched her hand, "Well then welcome to Fairy Tail Naruto! I hope you enjoy it here. We are always accepting new members. I'm honestly surprised that you weren't injured at all from your fall. You must have been pretty high up to make that sort of damage to our roof." Mirajane finished with a giggle.

This time Naruto actually responded with a smile and an outstretched hand, "Y-yeah, I'm sure I will, thank you, and I'm sorry about that. It's hard to explain." Naruto said, grasping her hand in a friendly handshake. This actually seemed to ease his nervousness. He was really looking for a distraction right now, and this girl could be it. He was well aware that he had fallen through the roof, thanks to a quick explanation from Makarov.

Mirajane decided to break the ice, much to Makarov's relief. He was thankful Mirajane was so friendly and kind to everyone, even strangers. "So what's it like traveling everywhere? I've only left Magnolia a few times, and that was for assingments." Mirajane asked with genuine curiosity.

Naruto found it odd that she wasn't all that curious on how he had fallen through the roof, but he just assumed that she had seen some strange things as well.

Naruto understood assignments in guilds. They were basically the same thing as missions for his village, except the ranking was much simpler. There were the regular assignments, taken by most mages, and then there were S-class assignments, taken by S-class mages. These missions were held everywhere, so it wasn't strange to think that this girl could have taken a few assignments despite her delicate appearance. He had seen far stranger things in his life.

'Here's where deceptive and secretive training pays off I suppose. Give her enough info so she doesn't pry, but at least make sure you make it seem like you know what you're talking about.'

"Well it is pretty fun I guess. I get to see all sorts of things and meet interesting people. It is a bit bothersome to get supplies sometimes though," Naruto said. He certainly sounded like he wasn't lying at least. If Makarov hadn't known the boy's true life he may have believed him.

Mirajane smiled her usual bright smile, "Wow that sounds fun. So what kind of magic do you use?" She asked, once again curious of the new member.

Now Naruto was stuck. He cursed himself for not making a better thought out cover story for himself. Makarov had told him about magic and that mages tended to stick to one style, and some chose to have two, but in Naruto's world it was different. Naruto had explained to Makarov what chakra was… kind of. He did tell Makarov that each person had a different amount and had elemental affinities, but Naruto didn't mention to Makarov what he was capable of. All he told Makarov was that he was a skilled fighter.

"Let's just say I'm a bit of a wild card," Naruto said with a confident smirk. It wasn't wrong. If these people were only well versed in one style, then he was indeed a wild card given his skillset. Hopefully this would also vaguely explain how he had sustained no damage from his fall, even though he wasn't sure himself.

"Well I can't wait to find out then," Mirajane said before moving herself behind the bar to prepare for the inevitable hoard of members. The next ten minutes was filled with small talk mostly between Naruto and Mirajane. Makarov would join in, sometimes just to be in the conversation before he started actually working, or to assist Naruto in his endeavor to remain secretive. Makarov didn't mind Naruto being mysterious and secretive about his past, most of the guild members had pasts they didn't like sharing, but that might change once Naruto starts to trust the people of this guild. Makarov could only hope so.

Naruto had relaxed enough to describe his travels with some brief stories about his life. While he was trying to distract himself from his own memories, it did help to remember the good ones, and since he was still very vague about them, none of it seemed too unrealistic. He only shared stories about his travels, but had to be careful not to say any kind of significant landmark or person by name or else there may be more questions.

Naruto may have been relaxed, but that didn't stop him from tuning out his senses, and right now he could here several people approaching the building. Naruto braced himself for the next onslaught of questions.

As people walked into the building, they immediately took notice of him. Naruto definitely stuck out since most of the guild members knew each other pretty well. Some of the members went to approach him.

"I've never seen you around here before, what's your name stranger?" A man with combed back blueish hair and stubble asked.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I'm a… new member here. Nice to meet you," Naruto said while smiling at the man.

Another man approached him, standing next to the blue haired man, "Nice to meet you youngster. My name's Wakaba, he's Macao." The man with strange brown hair and a pipe said while slinging his arm around Macao and smirking.

'Well these people seem to be taking my presence well enough.' Naruto thought.

Soon enough the rest of the members present either went to try and get to know Naruto, or just went to do their regular activities. Most did the former though.

"Hey, let's see what you're made of kid! I'm sure everyone wants to know what our new member can do!" Macao said loudly, hoping someone would volunteer to spar with the new member. While Macao had his pride with his abilities to fight, he wasn't going to volunteer to fight a possibly powerful mage. He'd let the younger generation deal with a member their own age.

"I'll fight the kid. I want to see for myself if this is either a boy or a man!" A bulky figure said challengingly as he shoved his way to the front. Naruto turned to face the large man while he sported a confident smile that mirrored the large man's.

"The name's Elfman! I'll be your opponent." The man said while outstretching his hand. Naruto noticed the muscles in the man's arms tense up slightly. While this handshake was a friendly one, it was also meant to gauge ones strength. Naruto grasped the large hand firmly, waiting for Elfman to apply pressure. When he did, Naruto wasn't surprised by the amount of strength being put into his hand, but Naruto easily matched it, while not overpowering Elfman, Naruto showed that he wasn't weak either. This made Elfman's smirk grow.

"I like you already, kid. C'mon, let's go out back. There'll be enough space for us there." Elfman said as he made his way to the front door. After a moment Naruto followed the bulky man out the door with the rest of the guild hot on his heels. Naruto's conscience wouldn't let him turn down a spar. He had his own pride as an honorable ninja after all. Naruto would try to limit himself as much as possible, but he also wanted to cut loose a bit. This fight would serve as an excellent distraction.

The group made their way around the building until they reached a small clearing surrounded by trees behind the large guild building. Each member stood together from a decent distance away from the two fighters. Makarov was in the front, carefully observing Naruto. He may not have showed it, but he was extremely curious to see what Naruto could do.

"Are you ready kid? I won't go easy on you just cuz you're new. I've gotta break in the new recruit you know!" Elfman said confidently. The handshake had proven that Naruto had some brawn, but what was his magic?

Naruto crouched low into a defensive stance, with both arms raised. He wasn't going to pull out any kunai or shuriken unless the man brought out some sort of weapon, "Don't worry, I can handle it. Let's go!" Naruto yelled in return. Elfman nodded while smirking and charged at Naruto.

Once he approached Naruto, Elfman drew back his right arm, "Beast Arm: Black Bull!" Elfman shouted as the entire blue sleeve of his jacket covering his right arm was ripped to shreds by his arm, which was currently changing shape while being covered by a bright light for an instant. Naruto leapt backwards as Elfman punched the ground Naruto was standing on just a moment ago with a large, muscular black arm that had a small patch of fur at the top. Naruto watched as a small crater was formed before his eyes by the large appendage.

'He's slow, but he's definitely strong. I gotta make sure I don't get hit by that.' Naruto thought before charging at his opponent, who had just pulled his arm back to try for another punch.

Elfman swung his arm straight at Naruto's chest, but Naruto quickly crouched low and made to deliver a punch in return to Elfman's jaw. Elfman was surpised by the yong man's speed and leaned back just in time to dodge the punch, but was unprepared for the leg sweep Naruto performed not a second later. Elfman fell onto his back for a moment before recovering and rolling backwards. Naruto wasn't going to let up however as he made a cross with his fingers.

'Might as well show these people something.'

"Shadow Close Jutsu!" Naruto yelled as four more copies of himself popped into existence. Elfman, who was just starting to get back on his feet, was sent backwards by a kick to his chest. Elfman was given a slight reprieve from the attack, but found out why because as soon as he was on his feet, he struck once again by a foot to the jaw that sent him into the air. He heard one sound spoken by his assaulter.

"U!"

This was quickly followed by another kick, this time to his back. While he didn't know it, the copies of Naruto were starting to stack onto each other. This attack was followed by another word.

"Zu!"

The next attack struck him with a fist to his back, which was now more or less horizontally in the air. Again, this attack was followed by a word.

"Ma!"

What Elfman hoped was the last attack, hit him in the form of two fists. One in his upper back, one in his lower back, keeping him mostly parallel to the ground.

"Ki!"

Elfman opened his eyes for a second, only to see that Naruto was at his side with his leg held high.

"Barrage!"

Naruto sent an axe kick straight into Elfman's stomach, forcefully bending his body towards the blow and sending him the field below. Naruto fell to the ground with a crouch as the clones dispelled themselves. Naruto looked into the crater that had been made as a result to the kick. Elfman was bruised and battered, but was still conscious and smiling. Naruto held out his hand and Elfman quickly took it. Naruto hauled the man out of the crater and returned the smile.

"You may have kicked my ass, but to me that just means that you're a real man! Welcome to Fairy Tail!" Elfman exclaimed, turning the helpful grip into a handshake, which was reciprocated by Naruto.

'I'm glad he was honorable about it. I just might like it here.'

"Thanks! I'm glad to be here." Naruto said with a newfound feeling of relief. This was definitely a good distraction.

**Please review. This chapter was a bit rushed, but I like how I did it.**


	3. New Concerns, New Threat

Naruto had decided that he kinda liked Elfman. Sure he was a bit of a meathead and keeps relating things to being manly, but he was strong and he sure as hell was durable.

After Naruto beat him the first time, Elfman said he was ready for another round, this time to determine who the bigger man was. Naruto easily accepted the rematch, and fought like he would in most spars. Naruto had to hold back, but that was only because if he didn't, he'd kill Elfman. Not that Elfman knew of course. Elfman however, was trying as hard as he could. Elfman qould have felt much better about the fight if he could land one hit on Naruto, but the blond was just too quick and nimble for him. Another thing that assisted in Naruto being that crap out of Elfman was the fact that Elfman didn't try to block often, and even when he did it just allowed Naruto to move into his guard and hit him again. So Elfman just decided to take the hits and keep trying to hit Naruto

"I swear I will hit you at least once! I am a man!" Elfman roared before charging at the blond once more. Naruto could tell that the brute of a man was beginning to tire.. His solid evidence being that Elfman had stopped using his magic a few moments ago. Usually Elfman had at least one appendage in the form of some creature in the place of a normal arm or leg. This constantly took magic energy from him. Add that to the fact that Naruto was dealing a great amount of damage, his magic depleted far more rapidly than Elfman had anticipated.

Naruto had to think about this now. He could tell he was hurting Elfman's pride by destroying him, but he also knew that if he let up on his attacks to go easy on him, Elfman would notice and that would also hurt his pride. Naruto frowned while instinctively ducking below another punch as he continued to think about this. Naruto also wanted to hold back so the rest of the guild, who were still watching the fight, would find out more about his fighting abilities than he felt like sharing at the moment.

This time during his train of thought, Naruto zoned out, not even noticing the punch that was sailing towards him until the least second. When he did notice, he cursed at himself before putting his arms up in a cross guard. The punch solidly connected, forcing Naruto to slide back a few inches. Naruto looked up from his cross guard expecting another attack, but was greeted by something else.

"I-I hit him…" Elfman muttered. Then a huge smile spread to his face, "I finally hit him. Yes! I knew I was a man!" Elfman roared while pumping his fists into the air. While his fists her in the air, Elfman fell backwards and finally lost consciousness.

'He was probably at his limit for a while now. Dman he's got some willpower. He's like Rock Lee in that regard.' Naruto thought, but quickly shook the thought away.

"I'm trying to distract myself from thoughts of home dammit." Naruto muttered, clenching his fists tightly.

He could hear several footsteps quickly approaching him, putting his poker face on, he turned and saw some of the guild members run up to Elfman and started to haul him back to the guild. Naruto expected at least someone to be pissed at him for knocking out a Fairy Tail member, but the reactions he got were the complete opposite. He got smiles and congratulations from the people carrying Elfman.

Naruto walked over to the remaining members that hadn't been carrying Elfman, or following the carriers back inside, Which was basically Makarov, Mirajane, a brunette woman in a bikini top, and a few other members that didn't seem as strange.

"I expected someone to be mad at me for knocking Elfman out, so if anyone wants to yell at me or hit me be my guest," Naruto said and closed his eyes in preparation for the outburst. After a few seconds he slowly opened his eyes and saw the members in from of him smiling or smirking. "Aaaand I guess that's not going to happen. Could someone explain?"

"Boy all you did was win a spar, rather impressively if I do say so myself. Our bar fights end with more gruesome injuries than what you gave Elfman." Makarov said casually, as if this were a common occurrence.

"Yeah, if anything this'll just get you more popular in the guild. I'm sure any of the members that weren't here today will hear about it." The brunette said, still smirking at Naruto. Her gaze was a bit unnerving, but he wouldn't let it show.

Makarov sighed, knowing just which members that she was referring to, Team Natsu, who were away on a mission to Galuna Island at the moment. "Ah yes, our more famous and in some cases infamous members. Naruto I'm going to warn you right now that you'd better prepare yourself for a few more spars in the coming days. While I don't like to insult my own children's battle abilities these fights will be more challenging than your fight with Elfman today. Good luck to you."

Naruto raised an intrigued eyebrow at this, "You mean this group plus the people currently in the guild aren't all of the members?"

Makarov shook his head, "Nope, all of my S-class mages are on missions, and the rest of the kids in my guild are with one of those mages." Makarov grumbled, remembering just how Erza ended up with the current group she was with.

Naruto smiled at the prospect of a new challenge. Don't get him wrong, he did enjoy his fight with Elfman, but he needed something more blood pumping. Something that could force him to use more than just clones.

"Oh cheer up master! They shouldn't break too much in their fight with Naruto, right?" Mirajane said in a futile attempt to reverse Makarovs mood. The old man just grumbled once more before slowly walking back to the guild.

As the rest of the group walked back to the guild, Naruto decided that he wanted to know more about these members. "So who are these people I should be expecting a fight from?" Naruto asked.

The brunette stepped forward until she was next to Naruto, "Well first there is Natsu, known as the Salamander. He's uses a lost magic known as Fire Dragon Slayer Magic. He's pretty well known for going overboard and blowing everything up," she paused, waiting for Naruto to ask a question. Since it seemed he was holding his questions for later, she continued, "Then there is Erza, known as Titania. She's one of our S-class mages. She uses Re-quip magic, which basically allows her to change into different suits of armor and weapons in an instant."

Naruto nodded, and proceeded to gaze upwards at the sky thinking about these two people. First there was Natsu and his magic. Naruto made the obvious guess and assumed that Natsu used fire based attacks, but in what form he had no idea. He didn't want to ask because that would have taken the fun out of finding out for himself. Naruto didn't have any water style moves so the fight could prove to be a challenge. Then there was Erza. She was supposedly an S-class mage. Naruto couldn't wait to meet her. It sounded like Erza had a large variety of weapons and armor to use. That would make a fight very enjoyable.

Naruto looked back at the brunette girl, now actually noticing her more prominent features. She wore tight pants and a blue bikini top, both showing off what was lying underneath quite well. Her hair went down a little past her waist with a slightly wavy style. Her brown eyes showed that she was mischievous as well.

"Thanks a lot… um… ur…" Naruto mumbled, figuring out just now that this was his first interaction with her. He had no clue what her name was.

The woman laughed at his reaction, "Don't hurt yourself trying to think about it. My name's Cana Alberona." She said with a smirk.

Naruto pouted at her remark, "Sorry I didn't know your name, no need to insult me for it." Naruto whined jokingly. This made Cana laugh even more.

"Y'know what? You're alright Naruto." Cana said as they finally reentered the guild. She hurriedly made her way to the bar and picked up a large keg. Naruto's eyes widened when he saw her start to chug the contents of the barrel.

"Um, what's in the barrel?" Naruto asked, still amazed by the spectacle.

Mirajane, who had stayed silent until now, spoke up, "She's drinking beer. This is sort of a daily routine for her at this point. She can beat anyone in a drinking game."

"What?! She can drink that much a day and still be alive? She must have an iron liver!" Naruto exclaimed. Apparently Cana heard this because Naruto swore he heard her say 'Hell yeah I do!' before drinking form her barrel once again. Naruto had never drank alcohol before, but he assumed his tolerance was pretty high, especially with Kuruam's ability to heal poison…

'Wait, is Kurama still inside of me?' Naruto frantically thought. He could definitely heal fast. His bruises from blocking Elfman's punch had faded away, but he hadn't heard a thing from the demon fox. He subtly tried to channel some of Kurama's chakra into himself, but found that he couldn't. Naruto began to mentally panic, but it soon turned into physical panic as he began to tense up and look in random directions.

Mirajane noticed this, "Are you alright Naruto?" She asked, reaching out for his arm. Before she could make contact, Naruto sharply turned towards the door and ran out yelling, "Yeah I've just got to check something, I'll be back later!"

Naruto rushed over to a heavily wooded area so he could attempt to make contact with the tailed beast inside of him. Once he found a secluded place, he quickly sat down into a meditative position and tried to enter his mindscape, but it seemed like something was stopping him.

"Dammit I know that you're in there. At least give me a sign! Let me know that you're okay!" Naruto yelled in his mind. He didn't get any sort of response, which frustrated him even more.

Over the next few hours, Naruto had tried to enter his mind, only to find that he couldn't. Every time he called upon the tailed beasts chakra he wasn't able to. Naruto went as far as stabbing his arm with a kunai. The only positive sign he got was the fact that he was still healing quickly.

Naruto finally started to tire after his mostly fruitless attempts to confirm if Kurama was still inside of him. Naruto noticed that the sky was now dark, and the ground below was illuminated by the moon. Deciding that he just wanted to rest, Naruto started to run back towards the guild hall. Makarov was allowing him to stay in the medical room for the time being until Naruto either left, or made a living.

As the guild was in sight, he felt another presence heading towards the guild, one that he didn't recognize or like the feeling of. It had clear hostile intent to it. Naruto jumped onto the roof of the guild and staked out the person, who was still a little ways away. Soon enough Naruto saw a man walk until he was about ten feet from the entrance of the guild. Naruto couldn't identify his features due to a dark cloak he was wearing. Only the bottom of his chin was visible. Naruto swore he saw some piercings.

The man thrust his arm forwards, extending a long, metal pole in the process. Naruto jumped down from his spot on the roof and kicked the pole downwards into the ground. Naruto heard a surprised grunt before he looked up directly at the cloaked figure.

"I may not know a whole lot of the rules of this town, but I'm sure as hell that what you were about to do was illegal. Please leave." Naruto said calmly. The pole retracted itself almost instantly, but the figure did not move. Instead it grabbed its cloak from the front and pulled, revealing the once hidden figure.

'He looks like Pain…' Naruto idly thought. True to his thought the man before him had several piercings covering his face and arms. His outfit was mostly black and had metal wrapped around where his shirt connected to where sleeves would have been if they were there and at the collar. His eyes were red and his hair was a wild black mane. On his right shoulder were long black feathers that matched the top half of his outfit. He wore white pants and black combat boots.

The man gave Naruto an intrigued look and a cocky smirk, "Well, what do we have here? Some guardian of the fairies? You much be good at sneaking around. I couldn't even smell ya." The man said in a gravelly voice.

Naruto's calm blue eyes held eye contact with the man's red ones. "I'll say it once more, leave this place before I kick your ass." Naruto said, his voice dropping into a lower, more intimidating tone. It failed to work as the man's smirk only grew.

"Think you're tough do you? Well then prove it!" The man said. He let out a short laugh before lunging at the blond and retracting his arm.

"Iron Dragon Sword!" The man yelled as his arm turned into a grey steel sword, resembling a saw. Naruto leaned back, avoiding a horizontal swing as he drew a kunai. Naruto went to slash at the man, but only found his kunai hitting the sword.

'His reaction time his far better than Elfman's. And did he say Iron Dragon? Is this a type of Dragon Slayer magic?' Naruto thought as he jumped back, giving himself some space. The man wasn't giving Naruto any remorse though as he ran towards Naruto once more, this time with his bladed arm letting out a buzzing noise. Naruto saw that the man's arm was now asking like an actual saw. Naruto put his kunai away and threw three shuriken at the Iron Dragon Slayer. Naruto soon found that this was a mistake.

"Mmm, this is some tasty metal! Where in the hell did you get this?" The man said as he had let the shuriken bounce off his body by deploying his Iron Scales. He decided to pick them up and much to Naruto's surprise, eat them.

"You asshole! You just ate my shuriken!" Naruto yelled, clearly annoyed at the loss of his ranged weapons. Sure he had more, but still that was just wrong.

"And they were great! I might just kill you for more of those instead of defending this weak guild," The man laughed once more. Naruto growled before summoning a clone and holding out his hand, letting the clone pump chakra into a ball above his hand.

"Alright, I'm not going easy on you anymore. This fight ends here." Naruto said coldly. He was too tired for this, and since this person was an enemy, he didn't have to hold back.

Seeing this, the man raised a pierced eyebrow, "Oh? So there's more to you than tasty weapons, well then come on! Let's see what you've got!" The man roared, taking stance in preparation for Naruto.

"You asked for it." Naruto said in a quiet voice before dispelling the clone and walking forwards. The only sound that was heard was the spinning of the Rasengan before the two clashed once again.

**Review and all that crap. These aren't going to be as constant as I've been writing them in the coming weeks.**


	4. Dreams and New Toys

**So I've been told that I should answer some questions, which I've never really done except through private messaging, but seems like a good idea for this story. I'll also use this to clarify a few things as well.**

**Cerulean Knight: Gajeel was using his standard Iron Dragon Club to break into the guild, so when Naruto intercepted the attack, Gajeel retracted it back into his arm. So it wasn't like what happened in Fairy Tail where the pillars stayed inside.**

**Kurama Thunderstorm: The tailed beast thing will be explained later on, and there will be multiple gifts.**

**Some things may seem unclear about the story at the moment, but they will probably start to make more sense as the story progresses.**

Gajeel realized after less than a minute of fighting the blond that he had made a huge mistake underestimating him.

When Naruto started moving towards him with the blue sphere, he didn't think much of it. He took so much pride in his Iron Scales that he hadn't anticipated what would have happened if the sphere had hit. He now knew exactly what would happen.

Gajeel had started strolling forwards leisurely with his sword arm buzzing. Gajeel had planned to meet his opponent halfway, but much to Gajeel's surprise Naruto vanished and reappeared in a crouch right in front of him. Gajeel didn't even have a chance to swing before he heard the blond yell "Rasengan!"

The next thing he knew, his scales had shattered and he was sent tumbling down the road where he had come from. Gajeel was still very much alive, but he felt like someone had slammed an immense weight into his gut while someone else stabbed it repeatedly. Gajeel struggled to get up, which was very clear to Naruto. Naruto decided to take his time and drag out the fight as long as possible.

'From the mark on his shoulder I'd have to guess that he's from a guild. I've seen everyone in Fairy Tail with marks in random parts of their body. I've got to make sure that he and his guild won't try this again.' Naruto thought as he summoned another clone to create another Rasengan. His original plan was to test this guy's fighting abilities and then take him out quickly, but now he was going to beat this guy within an inch of his life, just so he can return to his guild and tell them not to try attacking Fairy Tail again.

Gajeel could hear the whirling sound of the Rasengan as the blond powerhouse drew near. At this point Gajeel was standing, but weakly, or so it seemed.

Once Naruto was within five feet of Gajeel, Gajeel snapped his head up and yelled, "Iron Dragon Roar!" The attack was something Naruto certainly wasn't expecting. He didn't have any time to dodge, so all he could do was dispel the Rasengan and cover his face with his arms. Gajeel quickly took advantage of this chance and retreated into an alley, taking random twists and turns just in case Naruto decided to follow him.

"Dammit!" Naruto yelled. He could feel his clothes tearing and small cuts forming from the attack. It was like being put through a grinder, but given Naruto's tough body and remarkable healing abilities none of the cuts were fatal. After a few seconds the attack finally stopped, allowing Naruto to breath. He looked around for the Iron Dragon Slayer, but there was no sign of him.

'Well my plan was for him to go back to his guild, but I don't think I hurt him enough to see me as much of a threat to someone of higher power than him. His scales must've absorbed more damage than I thought.' Naruto thought to himself. He turned back towards the guild building to survey the possible damage.

The building itself was completely intact, but te ground right outside had a hole from where the iron pole ended up getting imbedded into, small holes from where his shuriken landed before the Iron Dragon Slayer ate them, which he was still mad about, and two small trenches from when Naruto hit the man with his Rasengan. At first it just pushed him, but then it sent him flying.

"Dammit I'm tired, I've had enough fun for one night." Naruto muttered to himself. He walked into the front doors of the guild building and quickly made his way to the medical area. Thankfully Elfman went home with the care of Mirajane, who said he'd just have to remain at his house for a few days, so none of the beds were occupied. Naruto found one in a far corner and discarded his torn clothing. He still had several sets of his usual outfit in storage scrolls, which he still wasn't sure how he obtained such things. Once he was in only a pair of boxers he fell onto the bed and went to sleep.

"_Hey, brat."_

'_What?' Naruto tried to voice, but could only think. He looked around the void that was his dream to find the source of the voice, but only saw the white void of his dream._

"_Look, I know you can't talk to me right now, or ever again for that matter so just listen and save your questions for when you remember this conversation." The voice said with a slightly annoyed voice._

_Naruto recognized that voice, but he couldn't place a name on it. It was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't put it into words, not that he would be able to anyways._

"_I know you're confused right now, and as much as it annoys me, I'm the first up to give you something that could help you in this shitty situation you're in." The voice said in a harsh tone. Naruto still couldn't find the figure, but a light mist was rolling in. _

'_Dammit, this is so familiar, but I can't place a name on it!' Naruto raged mentally._

"_I don't regret what I did in the past, it was what I did best after all," The voice chuckled as even more fog rolled in. Now Naruto couldn't see the white void that was around him due to how thick the fog was. "But I do regret what I did to Haku. I used him for my own gains and he followed through without question. He wanted to see my ambitions through, but it was all in vain due to you and your team. You were the only person to stay alive long enough while fighting us to give me a reality check, so I guess this is my thanks to you."_

_Naruto saw the outline of a figure in the dense fog. It was approaching him slowly, taking it's time with every step. After a full minute the figure was only a few feet away from Naruto, and for the first time since his dream began, he could see who the figure was._

_The man was tall with defined muscles and darkened skin. His black hair was short and spiky. His face was almost completely wrapped in bandages, save for his man also wore a forehead protector, which was standard to wear for any ninja in a village, but his was turned towards the left side of his head. He was shirtless and had black and white arm warmers with blue pants covering his legs. Attached to a strap that wrapped around his chest was a large, menacing blade that was almost as tall as the man in front of Naruto._

'_Zabuza,' Naruto thought as he finally remembered who this person was. He hadn't seen him in nearly four years, what was he doing here._

"_I'm going to give you three things that will help you out. Believe me, they will help." Zabuza said while drawing the massive blade from its sheath. Zabuza held it outwards before dropping the blade. As the cleaver touched the ground, it shattered like glass and dissipated. Naruto continued to stare at the man before him._

"_That's the first 'gift,' my sword, The Executioner's Blade. Don't worry about the blade being dull or damaged. It absorbs iron from blood, so you'd better kill some people with that or you're just letting its name die along with me," Zabuza said in a serious tone, staring directly into Naruto's eyes. Naruto stayed silent, but nodded. Zabuza accepted this response with a nod of his own. _

"_My second 'gift' is going to be just how to use this weapon. You look strong enough to wield it, but without the proper technique you'll be a sitting duck on the battlefield. Now hold still," Zabuza said, reaching his hand out to press his palm against Naruto's own forehead protector. After a moment Zabuza backed away. "You won't be able to remember this information, along with everything else happening until… I don't even know when. I'm sure glad I'm not you right now because this crap makes no sense to me."_

_Zabuza backed up and held his right hand above his head. All of the sudden the mist surrounding the two ninja began to condense just above Zabuza's palm. Once all of the mist was collected, it seemed like Zabuza was holding a thick cloud._

"_My final 'gift' goes quite well with the sword, believe me." Zabuza chuckled darkly to himself, but it abruptly ended, turning serious once again. Zabuza held out his mist shrouded hand in what seemed like a handshake gesture. Naruto stared at the hand for a moment before hesitantly raising his own hand to meet Zabuza's. Zabuza let out an impatient sigh and firmly grasped Naruto's still rising hand. The mist seemed to surround both hands before traveling up Naruto's hand, then his arm. It then expanded, covering his entire body for a brief moment, and finally seeping into Naruto's body._

"_That's the Hidden Mist Jutsu. You can use the Silent Killing technique if you use the Executioner's Blade along with the mist. Have fun with that. You deserve the chance at a second life." Zabuza said, but muttered the last part. _

_Naruto reached out to Zabuza, he was still so confused. What was even happening? Was this really a dream? It seemed so real… And why was he even seeing Zabuza? He's been dead for several years!_

'_Wait, what's going on?' Naruto thought in a panic. His surroundings were fading out, leaving only a dim light that seemed so far away…_

Naruto woke up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily and shaking. He saw that Makarov was sitting on a bench just to the right of where Naruto was sleeping. Makarov was looking at Naruto with a look of concern on his face.

"Are you alright boy? You've looked like you were having a nightmare." Makarov said.

"Y-yeah, I'm good. Don't even know what to call that dream." Naruto said. He looked towards the window. Seeing the sun high in the sky he guessed it was close to the afternoon.

"I would like to ask about the damage outside the building, but that can wait. Team Natsu has returned and they've been notified of you. Needless to say they want to meet you." Makarov said with a grimace. The damage was sure to be pricey.

"Um… alright, give me a minute to get dressed," Naruto said, not soon after he said that his stomach growled loudly. Naruto gave Makarov a sheepish grin, "And some food. I haven't eaten since my fight with Elfman."

Makarov hopped off his stood, "I'll let Mirajane know about your hunger problem. Please take your time. You're going to wish you did." Makarov chuckled before leaving the room.

Naruto sighed. He was still thinking about his 'dream,' but he would have to think about it on his own time. He had to meet this seemingly destructive group of people. This brought a smile to his face as he stared to pull a new set of clothes on. He'd bathe later. He felt like he was just going to get dirty again as the day progressed. A thought struck Naruto as he rummaged through his supply pouch that held his scrolls and small weapons. He dug through the pouch until he found one scroll that looked different compared to the other ones. Most of his scrolls were just a plain green color, but the scroll he had found was blue with a black trim to it. He slowly unrolled the scroll and read the description below the seal. His eyes couldn't have gotten wider when he saw what was written.

'The Executioner Blade!' Naruto mentally screamed. Does this mean his dream actually happened? If so then when would it have happened? Zabuza seemed like he was talking as if the conversation was taking place before Naruto's arrival.

Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts when a soft knock tapped against the door. "Naruto, you're food's ready! Also the others are getting anxious to meet you! Natsu's about to start a bar fight again!" Mirajane's sweet voice said, but eventually died off when something crashed into something else. Then there was silence, and finally there was violence. The sounds of fighting and yelling was the only thing Naruto heard behind the door. With another sign, he rolled up his scroll and placed it in his pouch. Finally ready, he opened the door that led to the guild hall. Naruto's senses blared upon opening the door as he ducked a chair that was thrown directly at him. Naruto stood back up and watched a scene of complete chaos. Mages fighting mages, broken tables and chairs, and the people that weren't getting involved were sitting at the bar drinking large amounts of alcohol.

Naruto made his way to the bar where he saw Mirajane smiling from the other side pointing at a large plate of food in front of an empty bench. Naruto smiled at the white haired girl and sat down. His hunger kicked in and he dug right into his food, practically inhaling the first plate.

While Naruto was trying to swallow the large amount of food, he heard something like metal hitting the wooden floor. The sound grew louder as the source made its way to Naruto. Once the noise was close it stopped, but was followed by a stern feminine voice.

"Are you Naruto?"

Naruto swallowed the food in his mouth, nearly choking himself in the process. After hitting his chest a few times to clear his throat, he spun his swivel stool around to meet this voice. What he saw was certainly not was he was expecting.

It was a woman, which he could have easily guessed by the voice, but the figure it resided in was certainly unexpected. This woman had long, blood red hair and sharp brown eyes. She wore a full suit of armor that had a golden cross design right in the middle of her chest plate. Her lower half consisted of a dark colored skirt, metal boots, and a sword in a scabbard. Her expression was serious, which was strange considering the ruckus happening behind her. In all honesty she looked like a younger, more medieval version of his mother. In all honestly it unnerved him a little bit.

Naruto remembered what Cana had told him, about the woman named Erza. The chance that this was that person was now very high. "Yup, that's me. Are you Erza?" Naruto asked, just to be sure. It was only natural after all.

"Yes, I am Erza Scarlet. I was one of the people that were with you when you first arrived here through the roof. I apologize for almost drawing my sword during that situation. You moved with such swiftness with your knife I assumed that you were a threat to us." Erza said with the same seriousness that matched her expression.

"Don't worry about it, you were just worried about your friends. I would've done the same thing." Naruto said with a toothy smile. To his surprise Erza returned it, but it was much more reserved.

"Good, now that that's out of the way. I've heard about your fight with Elfman. Quite a shock I must say. From what I've heard he didn't hit you once." Erza said, clearly impressed, but also clearly skeptical.

"Well technically he did hit me once, but I was able to block his punch. He hits pretty hard." Naruto said. He absentmindedly rubbed his left arm where it had taken its portion of the attack. Even though it was healed the memory was still there.

Erza nodded in understanding, "I see. That is impressive. I would actually like to request a spar with you if you're up for it." Erza said. Naruto saw that she seemed slightly excited at the prospect of fighting a possibly challenging foe. Naruto was feeling the same.

Before he could even word his acceptance to the challenge, he heard another, much louder voice.

"Fire Dragon Iron Fist!"

Thanking his own reflexes, Naruto vaulted over the bar just in time to see his previous seat explode into pieces by a fist that was covered in hot orange flames.

"Hold up Erza! I'm fightin' him first!" The owner of the fist yelled excitedly. Naruto looked at this new challenger with surprise. Mainly due to the person's hair.

His hair was pink, much like his old comrade, Sakura's. It was spiky and had some length to it, but it was hard to tell since it had a wild look to it. He wore a black open vest with dark orange trim and no shirt underneath, exposing his chest and abdominal muscles. His dark red Fairy Tail Emblem was on his right shoulder. He wore a black sash that held his white pants up. The pants themselves went down until it was cut off in the middle of his calf and tied off with black fabric. Finally he wore a pair of black sandals that strapped over his foot and around his heel.

'Wait, he said Fire Dragon, right?' Naruto wondered, remembering the other person Cana had mentioned. The symbolic light bulb turned on inside of his head.

"You're Natsu, right?" Naruto asked, on guard for the attack that was sure to come.

"Hell yeah I am! Now let's fight!" Natsu roared challengingly.

"Okay, but can we take it outside? I'd rather not give the old man a heart attack about the damage I've been told you can and will cause." Naruto said with a smirk. This insult did nothing but rile up the pinked haired teen more.

"That's fine by me, let's go!" Natsu said, already rushing towards the door. Naruto looked over at Erza with an apologetic smile, but she just shook her head. She fully understood Natsu's desire to fight the blond. She could wait.

Naruto soon followed the excited mage. Seeing Naruto leave drew the eyes of the other guild members. They wanted to see what would happen in this fight as well. Some people even started to make bets.

Within a few minutes, every guild member was in the field once again, completely silent as they waited for someone to make a move. Natsu was practically hopping on his feet while Naruto was completely still, his eyes never leaving Natsu's bouncing form.

"C'mon Natsu, you can do it!" Naruto heard from an unnaturally high voice that he hadn't heard before, but he wouldn't bother with it at the moment. He had more important matters to focus on.

"Begin!" Erza announced, and just like that, Natsu was rocketing towards Naruto.

"Fire Dragon Sword horn!" Natsu roared as he came at Naruto like a flaming missile. Naruto quickly jumped into the air, avoiding the attack, but Natsu wasn't done.

"Fire Dragon Roar!" A hot flame shot out of Natsu's mouth and sped towards Naruto. Seeing as how he couldn't move from the air, Naruto made a cross with the index and middle fingers of both hands.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

The clone popped into existence to Naruto's right side. Knowing what its creator was thinking, it grabbed Naruto by his collar and sleeve and threw him to the side. The fire hit the clone, causing it to burst into smoke. Naruto landed on the ground in a crouch and stood back up.

'At least I'm getting more action out of this fight than the one with Elfman.' Naruto thought. He wasn't sure how he should attack Natsu. He seemed to be able to control fire with ease. The fire users back in Konoha would have been jealous.

"Hey, you're pretty good!" Natsu congratulated, so far his blond opponent had dodged two attacks so far with skill and ease. This was shaping up to be a good fight.

"You're not too bad yourself," Naruto said back. Naruto was still trying to think of a plan of attack against Natsu.

'I can't use my kunai, it's too short. I'm not sure how hot his flames can become, so shuriken are out. What do I have that has some range? Not a whole lot of my jutsu are long ranged, but what if I…" Naruto cut his train of thought off when he remembered the blue scroll in his pocket. From what he remembered from his 'dream' Zabuza had given Naruto the sword and the skill to use the sword, as well as the Hidden Mist Jutsu… That would do just fine.

Natsu seemed to become impatient. As Naruto went to reach into his pouch, Natsu charged Naruto with ignited fists and feet. Naruto dodged the incoming punches and kicks with ease, but they weren't slowing down at all. Naruto noticed that Natsu didn't really have a real technique when it came to hand-to-hand combat. It seemed like he just focused on overpowering his opponents.

Natsu left an opening for Naruto when he went for a wide, overhead punch. Naruto sidestepped the punch and followed up with a quick kick to Natsu's stomach. This sent him sliding back a few feet, but that was all the time he needed. Naruto jumped back and dug into his pouch until he found the desired item. With haste, he unrolled the scroll onto the grassy ground and slammed his hand onto it, pumping his chakra into it upon contact.

All Natsu saw when he recovered from the kick was a large cloud of white smoke. This time he waited for his opponent to some out. Sure, he could just send his breath attack into the smoke, but he was sure Naruto was planning something. He certainly wasn't wrong.

The smoke was pushed away by an application of Naruto's wind chakra. Natsu stared at Naruto, or more importantly, the massive butcher knife that was propped on his right shoulder.

From the crowd, Erza stared at the blade with an appraising eye. She easily considered herself a weapons expert, considering her type of magic, but this sword was strange.

It was nearly as tall as Naruto himself and it looked incredibly heavy. Naruto was actually leaning forward with his knees bent to compensate for the sword's weight. The blade curved only at the top before it ran straight down. It had one hole near the top going through the blade itself, and one half circle near the bottom of the blade. The handle was also rather long. She could tell that the handle could be retractable due to her experience with swords. While the sword certainly looked intimidating, it also seemed impractical and overbearing, but she could very easily be wrong. She would soon find out that she was.

"You use re-quip magic like Erza?" Natsu asked with an excited grin.

"Yeah, something like that." Naruto said with a shrug. Naruto gave the blade a few practice swings, finding that it was heavy obviously, but as he ran through the stances in his mind they seemed to make the blade highly versatile. Some of the techniques used the weight of the blade to the users advantage and some just relied on pure momentum. He had to say… he felt really cool using the Executioners Blade.

Despite his desire to remain on the defense, Natsu charged at Naruto once more. This time he propelled himself into the air with flaming feet. Once he reached a height he thought was good enough, he propelled himself back down towards the ground one more.

"Fire Dragon Talon!" Natsu yelled, sending a flaming axe kick aimed for Naruto's head. As he expected, his foot hit flat metal, but that he didn't expect was for Naruto to shove him back towards the sky again. As Natsu tried to right himself in the sky, Naruto jumped into the air with the assistance of his wind chakra, ascending a higher height than Natsu himself. Naruto timed his jump perfectly as he saw Natsu finally right himself, but that was all according to plan. Naruto slid the open circle of his blade around Natsu's head, surpising him. Before Natsu could remove his head from the circle, Naruto let out a grunt and began to spin with the blade. This locked Natsu's head in as the speeds grew faster and faster. Both of the fighters finally began to fall. From the outsiders prospective, it looked like a small, sharp tornado was swinging a pink haired, slightly green faced teen around rapidly. As soon as the ground was in sight, Naruto pulled his blade out from its place around Natsu's neck, sending the poor pink haired mage into the ground hard. Naruto landed with a roll to reduce the momentum of his fall. Naruto propped the blade on his shoulder once again and walked towards Natsu. Natsu was unconscious from the fall, but still very much alive.

"Damn, you Fairy Tail mages are made of some tough stuff." Naruto said with an impressed tone. Naruto stabbed his blade into the ground and leaned on it for support.

"Aw man, I forgot to use the Hidden Mist Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, confusing the awe struck observers. A few guild members ran up to Natsu and pulled him out of the crater that had contorted to look like his own body. They hurriedly carried him back into the guild building.

Erza walked up to Naruto with a smile on her face, "I had my doubts about that blade, but you certainly knew how to use it. Good work. Natsu's not an easy one to put down." Erza praised. Naruto smiled back and stood straight up.

"Yeah, he was fun to fight. That definitely got my blood pumping a little bit." Naruto said.

Erza looked at him challengingly, like she did back inside the guild hall, "Well if you're still up for it, I believe it's my turn to fight you, and please use that blade as well. I'd like to see what else you can do with it." Erza said, her serious expression changing into one of friendliness.

Naruto pulled his blade out of the ground and laid the flat of the blade on his shoulder, "I've still got energy to spare. I'm looking forward to this!"

**Yeah yeah, I know Naruto gets Zabuza's sword a lot in fanfiction, but theres a reason why that is. Because it's badass, obviously.**


	5. Naruto VS Erza

'I'm starting to feel like this isn't a normal thing for new guild members.' Naruto thought as he watched Erza stretch to loosen her muscles up. Naruto had no need to do this due to his earlier fight with Natsu.

Naruto could see from his peripheral vision that the rest of the guild members were quietly whispering amongst themselves. There were a few new faces he had yet to speak to that were in the front of the group. Due to his more advanced hearing through his ninja training, he could hear some of what they were saying.

"So who is this guy exactly?" One black haired teen asked. Naruto couldn't make out many of the details of this guy, but for some reason the teen was without a shirt, not that it seemed to bother him.

"He's our new temporary member. I'm letting him stay here for the time being to see if he likes the guild or not." Naruto heard Makarov say to the teen. The teen just grunted in response.

"I hope he joins the guild. It would be interesting to see what it would be like to talk to a member newer than me." Naruto heard a blonde girl say happily.

Naruto refocused on Erza, who was taking a few practice swings with the sword that was strapped to her side to warm up her arms. Naruto eased and tightened his grip on the handle of his large blade idly. Now it was all a matter of time…

"Begin!" Naruto heard Makarov yell from the side. In a literal flash, Erza glowed brightly and sprinted towards Naruto.

"Re-quip, Flight Armor!" Naruto heard her shout commandingly. Naruto felt his inner alarms blare as he raised his massive sword up in a hasty defense. He heard metal clash with metal as he felt an opposing force on his sword. His eyes widened from what was now before him.

It was Erza, obviously, but she somehow changed her original armor entirely into something much more… revealing. Instead of her armor, she now wore a cheetah patterned top with a small amount of armor protruding from the top of it. She had one shoulder pad on her left shoulder as well as one arm guard on her left arm, both cheetah printed. She had long blue sleeves that covered from her wrist up to the middle of her bicep. She had short black shorts that exposed most of her legs and a brown belt that held up a yellow cloth on the left of her waist. Her boots were asymmetrical. The boot on her left was silver and came up just below the knee, which was covered by a knee guard that was cheetah patterned. Her right boot was much shorter and darker colored. The boot itself only came up to her shin. Her stomach was completely exposed as well as the top of her chest. She was wielding two long and thin swords, each of a different design, but still looked identical in weight. Even out of all of that, the strangest thing about her new outfit was the large cheetah ears that were now attached to her head.

'This chick is a bit weird. Is she trying to distract me with her body or something?' Naruto mused to himself while keeping Erza at bay. Erza jumped back, but as she touched the ground, she vanished in a blur. Naruto was now more alert than when he started the fight.

'Where is she going to attack from?' Naruto wondered, but found his answer when he heard the sound of a sword cutting through the air above him. Naruto held the flat of his blade towards the sky and pressed his palm on the side facing him for more support. He felt the same resistance as before and a similar sound of metal against metal.

With a grunt, Naruto went to fling Erza off of his sword, but she was already gone one again, causing him to stumble from the sudden change of weight. He regained his footing quickly and focused his hearing to find Erza.

"You're pretty quick." Naruto said, instinctively swinging his blade behind him. He could feel the blade hit metal once again, but it continued to slowly push the resisting force back.

"I have to say the same to you." Erza grunted as she attempted to hold her ground. Even with her fastest armor, she couldn't get past Naruto's guard, but there was no way he would be able to defend from all sides with that massive sword of his.

Erza vanished from Naruto's view once more. Naruto slowly looked around in order to make sure that he would be ready for any kind of motion while relying on his hearing to defend his backside.

"Sonic Claw!"

Naruto tried to raise his sword for another defense, but Erza's attack was much quicker. Naruto blocked one strike, but it was followed by two more. Eventually he just dropped the sword and stuck to dodging. While it was effective, he was still given a few shallow cuts. Erza reappeared, landing with both of her blades outstretched in front of her. Naruto took a moment to look at himself and groaned. His jumpsuit had cuts in varies places. He'd have to get them sewn or something.

"Dammit. I've only got the one outfit, y'know!" Naruto yelled in exasperation. He really liked his orange and black clothes, and he only had so many of them in his scrolls. Erza smirked at his plight.

"You shouldn't enter a battle expecting to not lose something in the process." Erza said. Naruto sent her a mocking glare before picking his massive sword back up. He placed it on his shoulder and grinned manically.

"Well then, I'll just have to return the favor, won't I?" Naruto said with an unnaturally cheery voice. Before Erza knew it, she was blocking an overhead swing from the Executioner's Blade with a cross guard. Erza could feel herself being pushed into the ground. She glances up at Naruto, who seemed to be putting in some effort, but not enough to show much strain.

"Let's see just how durable these swords really are!" Naruto yelled as he flooded his large blade with his wind chakra, which sharpened the blade exponentially. Erza watched in awe and displeasure as she saw her two blades being slowly cut through. Acting quickly, she dropped her blades and rolled to the side. Naruto cut straight through her blades and deep into the ground before he could even stop himself. Now the blade was imbedded into the earth nearly all the way to the handle, leaving only a small portion of the blade visible. Erza quickly recovered from her roll and went to re-quip her armor, but found Naruto attempting to pull his sword out much more interesting.

"Aw crap," Naruto said as he made another attempt to pull his blade out, but it didn't budge. Naruto sighed heavily as Erza chuckled at his predicament. It was definitely strange for her to laugh at an opponent, but with what Naruto just did and the look on his face made it too difficult not to laugh.

"You know I could attack you right now and you'd be defenseless, but this is far too humorous to pass up." Erza said, whipping away a tear of mirth. She knew that probably wasn't true, but some friendly mocking wouldn't do any harm, right? Naruto turned to her and pouted, sharing in the good humor of the situation. This was embarrassing, but it was better to laugh at yourself rather than feel bitter.

"Go ahead and attack. I'll show you just how defenseless I am." Naruto said challengingly as he made two clones to assist him with digging his sword out and one clone to sit and close its eyes. Erza raised her eyebrow at the actions of this clone.

'What is that duplicate's purpose?' Erza thought. She figured she should just take it out now, but she could see the other Naruto duplicates and original starting to make progress with removing the sword from the ground. Erza decided to halt their progress quickly before they could get any further.

"Re-quip, Lightning Empress Armor!" Erza commanded. Her whole body flashed once again as her armor changed completely. Naruto paid no mind to this as he was seemingly too preoccupied with his sword problem, although upon hearing the name Naruto started to slowly smile. If her armor sounded like what he thought it did…

Naruto's question was answered when he heard the familiar crackle of lighting being sent towards him. Naruto's clones ran away from the original while the original sent more wind chakra through his blade and pushed the blade. The blade easily cut through the ground and was released from the dirt within a second. Naruto slashed at the incoming lighting with his wind chakra imbued weapon, and much to Erza's surprise, the lighting was cancelled out.

Erza's surprise came from two levels. One was from the fact that her attack was apparently meaningless, and by the fact that Naruto's blade was out of the ground and glowing once again. Erza wondered what caused it to glow like that. It may be that the blade has special properties, or that Naruto was causing this himself.

"How did you cancel my attack?" Erza questioned. It wasn't often that metal STOP an attack. She was silently cursing herself that she hadn't figured that Naruto was pretending that his sword was stuck.

Naruto smiled, "I've been trained to hide my skills and secrets, but I will tell you this. Wind trumps lightning."

Erza was now even more confused. 'Is that even a logical concept?' Erza thought as she went to re-quip again.

"Re-quip, Giant's Armor!" Erza commanded once again. Naruto watched as her armor changed once more, into a larger, more bulky suit.

This armor's color was a dark yellow with blue trim and patterns. Massive pauldrons, arm guards, and blue gauntlets covered her arms almost entirely. The form fitting chest piece completely covered her torso and had a blue cross on her abdomen area. The armor had a somewhat short, armor-plated skirt. The knee guards sport protruding metal ornaments reminiscent of Dragon's wings, and the plates that partially cover Erza's thighs are held up by straps tied behind her legs. The greaves have fur sprouting from both the knee and the ankle areas. The armor is completed with Erza's footwear composed of plain blue plate-armor. Her new weapon was a long spear with a heavy looking weight at the end of it.

"Just how many of these things do you have?" Naruto asked, interested. Her quick change of armor and weapons would make Tenten jealous.

"Plenty." Erza simply said before she charged. The two clones went in to rush her, but underestimated the speed she still possessed even in that armor. She struck them easily and they vanished with a pop and a puff of smoke. She waved the smoke away and charged at Naruto, spear at the ready. The memories of the deceased clones rushed into Naruto's mind.

'So she can hit much harder now. It seems she is sacrificing speed for strength. A bad choice against a ninja, but I won't bother with speed as well. Besides, the other clone is nearly ready.' Naruto thought as he ran to meet Erza halfway. Erza stabbed forward with her spear, and Naruto swung horizontally to counter it. The two weapons met in the middle with a loud metallic sound as the two began their test of strength. The edge of Naruto's sword was in between the top of the spear and one of the side blades of the spear, locking it in. Naruto grunted as he felt himself being pushed back. He tried to stick himself to the ground with his chakra, but found that he just ended up tearing more dirt up. Erza seemed strained, but grinned as she was slowly gaining ground. Naruto was pushing as hard as he could, but nothing was working, and it showed.

"Now what will you do?" Erza questioned, genuinely curious. She knew Naruto had the speed to attack her, but instead decided to attack her head on. She armor not only provided her with strength, but a rather impressive defense as well, so she was expecting to take a few hits before she would be able to hit him, but Naruto charged in head first, and now he was losing. Surely he had an escape plan or something up his sleeve.

Naruto's strained face broke into a smirk, "I've got one of my aces," Naruto said through a grunt. He turned his head towards the still sitting clone, which Erza had completely forgotten about, and yelled, "Dispel, now!"

The clone made no move to confirm this command other than doing just what Naruto wanted. Erza turned back to the original. She watched as oval marks appeared over Naruto's eyelids and a little further beyond and his eyes change into a yellowish color with a rectangular iris. Naruto's face suddenly wasn't strained and he began to push back. Erza gasped at the sudden shift in power as she attempted to push once again, but found it impossible as she was being pushed back by Naruto. With a yell, Naruto pushed hard against the spear, throwing Erza to the side. She rolled several times before finally slowing down and standing once again. Her armor was too bulky to stop mid-flight.

Erza looked up at the smiling Naruto and couldn't help but return the smile. She hadn't had this much of a challenge in quite some time.

"You're a great mage, Naruto. You seem to always have a counter to everything I do." Erza said honestly. Naruto scratched the back of his head in slight embarrassment.

"Thanks! You're an awesome mage, too." Naruto complimented. Naruto figured that he should just stick with the cover story that he was a mage. It was easier than explaining that he was a ninja. Erza re-quipped back into her Heart Kreuz armor and brushed a few strands of hair back. Naruto followed suit in his own way by expelling the nature chakra from his body, which returned his eyes back to normal, and sealing his sword away.

The audience had grown considerably. Mages and civilians alike were completely awestruck by the result of the battle.

"Did… did that kid just fight Erza into a draw?" Wakaba asked, the pipe falling out of his mouth due to his slack jaw.

"Yes. Yes he did." Makarov said, as if it didn't surprise him, which it didn't. He knew Naruto was more powerful than he let on. Although Naruto has been slowly breaking his training rule of not showing people that many of his abilities, he still showed enough to prove that he was powerful in his own right.

"Where did you find this guy?" Macao asked, slowly recovering from the result of the fight.

"Remember that hole in the roof we had to patch up?" Makarov said. Both of the men nodded. "That was Naruto."

"Wait. That guy fell through the roof? Why did he do that?" Lucy asked with a look of surprise evident on her face.

Makarov just shrugged, "Don't ask. He's a foreigner who's trying to understand our customs. Maybe it's some kind of stupid greeting or something. I wouldn't bother wondering."

Gray chuckled, "I won't be questioning that guy. If he can fight Erza to a standstill then I won't bother him."

Lucy nodded dumbly as Naruto and Erza walked over to the crowd. Naruto immediately spotted the two faces he had seen earlier that he couldn't name. Erza noticed where Naruto's eyes landed and waved her hand out to the two mages.

"Naruto, these two are Lucy and Gray. Lucy is a Celestial Mage and Gray is an Ice Mage." Erza said with a friendly smile. Naruto nodded and outstretched both of his hands, which Gray and Lucy shook, although Lucy was a bit more hesitant.

"Sup guys! Nice to meet you." Naruto said, releasing his hands from the two mages.

"L-likewise!" Lucy squeaked. Now that she was looking at him up close, his facial features were much more prominent. His blue eyes and sun kissed hair. It was a shade darker than hers. His choice of accessory was interesting as well, a metal headband with a strange but simple symbol on it.

'Those whisker marks are kinda cute too…' Lucy wondered, but realized where her thoughts were going and quickly shook her head to get rid of her thoughts. Gray just grunted in response.

"Well Erza, thanks for the fight. It was great! I haven't had a good spar in a while!" Naruto said with a toothy grin. Erza placed her hand on his shoulder.

"The pleasure was all mine. Welcome to Fairy Tail. We'll have to fight again some time." Erza said before walking over to Makarov. Makarov saw her approach and smiled.

"Great job out there Erza. It seems we have another strong mage in our hands. It was nice to see what Naruto could really do." Makarov said. Erza nodded in agreement.

Naruto started to make his way over to the guild entrance while talking to Gray and Lucy, who he had found to be rather nice people. The civilians returned to their previous activities and the rest of the mages headed back towards the guild behind Naruto. Erza went to follow, but Makarov stopped her.

"Master?" Erza asked curiously. Makarov's expression became serious.

"Erza, while you may not know it, you've done that boy a great service. I won't go into detail about him, but I will say that he's lived a hard life and his memories have been haunting him ever since he got here, but his fight with you was able to give him some happiness once again. I hope you can become his friend so he can have someone to confide to. He will need it." Makarov said, walking towards the rest of the guild members. Erza stood in stunned silence, mulling over the words Makarov had said.

'He seems so carefree though. I couldn't see any sadness in his eyes, even if he was having a good time in the fight, but who am I to say. We all have our dark pasts. We just need our friends to help us look to the future.' Erza thought with conviction. She really didn't mind if she got closer to Naruto. In fact she felt happy that a person like Naruto was now in the guild. He seemed like someone she could relate to on multiple levels.

"Welcome to Fairy Tale, Naruto." Erza whispered to herself before jogging to catch up to the rest of the guild members.

**I may have seemed like I was thinking about a Naruto x Lucy thing, but I just that would be her kind of mindset. I'm glad I actually checked over this one. There were a bunch of mistakes. There's probably more, but whatever.**


	6. The First Step Towards Completion

'Damn, these people are crazy!' Naruto thought as he ducked under yet another flying chair.

It was roughly an hour after Naruto and the guild members returned to the guild hall, and in that time Naruto had gotten to know a few more guild members that he wasn't able to speak to for an extended period of time before, like the rest of team Natsu. So far he seemed okay with most of them, although some had odd quirks.

The first noticeable person was Gray Fullbuster. Gray was pretty laid back and seemed like he'd be a cool guy friend to have. He used ice magic, which interested Naruto since that would have been considered a Bloodline Limit, like Haku's. Gray demonstrated a bit of what he could do by making small weapons and items made of ice. Naruto swiped at one with a kunai with a decent amount of his strength and was surprised to see the ice barely even chip. The only thing that bothered Naruto about Gray was his odd striping habit. Within the short time he spoke to the ice mage, Gray subconsciously striped out of everything he was wearing expect his boxers. How Gray didn't seem to even notice was beyond him. What was even stranger was that Naruto didn't even notice until the deed had been done, and he was staring at him the whole time!

The next person was Lucy, she didn't give him his last name, so he didn't pry. She could be an orphan or something, he didn't know. She was pretty carefree about anything really, except her rent. At some point in their conversation she seemed to remember that her rent was due in a few days, which brought down her mood considerably, but she immediately perked up once again to resume their conversation. She didn't seem to care of others judged her body, or rather she was proud of her womanly features if her tight clothes and short skirt were any form of proof. What was really interesting about her was her magic. She was a Celestial mage, which basically meant that she could use keys to summon spirits, and every time you obtain a key you need to establish a contract. There were silver keys, which were pretty common, and then there were golden keys. There are only twelve of these golden keys in existence, and Lucy happens to have four of these golden keys at the moment. She summoned one of her silver key spirits, and what came out was a small snow child creature thing that shivered quite a bit and smiled constantly. These keys acted basically the same as the summoning contracts back from where he was from.

Last but not least was Erza Scarlet. After their battle, she acted surprisingly nice towards him. He didn't expect her to be bitter about their draw, but she seemed even more willing to start a conversation with him. He learned that she was holding back on him somewhat in the fight, and that she could easily tell that he did the same, so she suggested a more intense spar on a later date. He hesitantly agreed. Hesitantly because most of his attacks were aimed to kill, so he wasn't sure that she could handle it, but agreed anyways to avoid suspicion. One odd thing about Erza was that she REALLY liked strawberry cake. He thought that her cake looked like a good treat, so he asked if he could try a bite, but the dark glare he got in return made him quickly retreat behind the nearest person, which was Mirajane. Mirajane just smiled at Naruto's actions and continued with her work.

Naruto heard a miserable grumble, and looked to see what it was. It turned out to be Natsu, who had recovered far sooner than Naruto figured he would. Naruto did kinda send him into the ground after all. Natsu looked at Naruto and in mere moments Natsu declared that he would beat Naruto one day. Naruto smirked at Natsu's motivation, but that quickly changed into shock when had to lean back to avoid a punch from the pink haired boy. The fist didn't hit Naruto, but it hit Gray directly in the chest. The Ice Mage didn't take it well.

"What the hell flame brain!" Gray yelled irritably. Natsu didn't even have time for a retort before Gray was upon him, and thus, starting a fight in the center of the guild.

"Was he even aiming for me?" Naruto asked aloud, not really expecting an answer, but he received one anyway.

"Probably not. Natsu and Gray have been rivals ever since they were children. They're always like this." Mirajane said with a cheerful smile. Naruto just stared at the brawling duo.

"You don't say," Naruto said with a short laugh, "I've heard of people that use fire and water never getting along, but I guess this is basically the same thing."

The next thing that happened completely took Naruto by surprise. Gray managed to land a solid kick into Natsu's stomach, sending him into the back of another guild member. The guild member lost the hold of his mug of beer and spilt it on the person sitting next to him. This little chain reaction triggered nearly everyone in the guild to start a massive brawl in the guild hall. Random objects and people were being thrown like they weren't considered important, some of which ended up being fairly close to hitting Naruto.

Naruto turned back to Mirajane, since the only other person sitting with him at the bar was Erza, who was too distracted by her cake to notice any of the violence going on behind her. Lucy had somehow managed to get dragged into the fight, but wasn't really fighting back. Lucy was basically doing her best to dodge all of the chaos around her. Naruto made no move to assist her since he found it to be funny.

"So I'm assuming that this happens often?" Naruto said as he pointed his thumb to the brawl behind him. Mirajane chuckled and nodded.

"Yup! There isn't a single day that a fight doesn't go on. It's one of the things that makes Fairy Tail the guild that it is." Mirajane said. Naruto nodded dumbly, still trying to process the information he had received.

'So they break this much crap every day? They must have to pay a fortune on repairs alone!' Naruto thought with a shiver. He couldn't imagine having to pay that much money for something like this. He had to give Makarov credit for not losing his mind from all of the money that he must've spent on the guild.

Erza had finally finished her cake with a happy sigh, but then her expression immediately turned serious as she turned around and saw the wreckage that the brawl was causing.

"ENOUGH!" Erza demanded with authority, even Naruto was compelled to stop drinking his beverage just so he didn't somehow piss her off. Naruto watched in fascination as the entire guild became silent and each of its members were frozen in place.

Erza's eyes scanned the room until they found what they were looking for.

She slowly walked over in the direction her eyes landed on. Naruto followed her vision the best he could until it landed on two teenagers, Natsu and Gray.

The two teenagers were frozen in place like the rest of the guild members. Both of their fists were just inches from their opponents faces, but were halted in fear by Erza.

Erza glared at both of them, "I'm going to assume that you two started this?" Erza asked coldly. Both boys nodded their heads, hoping to get out of as much trouble as possible by just agreeing with what the red haired mage said.

Erza took one more step closer before raising both of her fists into the air above their heads. "It's time for your punishment." Erza said with the same cold tone she used before.

Naruto turned back around to face Mirajane as he heard two sickening cracking noises, followed by the sound of something being dragged along the ground. Naruto turned his head to see Erza dragging both teenagers by their hair out of the guild hall, closely followed by Lucy.

"Sorry to disturb you all. Have a good evening." Erza said, and with that Team Natsu was gone.

Naruto let out a breath of relief. Erza was definitely one of the scariest women he had even met in his life.

Within a few minutes Makarov exited his office and walked up to Naruto and hopped on a stool next to the blond.

"Naruto, I'd like to discuss a few things with you if you don't mind." Makarov said.

"Um… alright, sure." Naruto said, slightly nervous. Makarov nodded and hopped off of the stool and gestured Naruto to follow him. Naruto followed the short man until they were back in his office, where they wouldn't be disturbed. Makarov sat at his desk while Naruto sat on the chair on the other side of the desk.

"Now, first and foremost, how are you feeling about everything that's happened so far?" Makarov asked, genuinely curious.

Naruto leaned back and thought about this question. How did he feel?

"Well. I guess I can say that it's nice here. Everyone here is so friendly. I'm not that used to it to be honest," Naruto paused to take a breath, "But that's the issue. I don't want to be extremely attached to those who have been so nice to me, but I know I'm already doing it. I want to go home, but I'm not even sure where I would start trying to do that. I've trained to be secretive, but with how everyone treats me… I'm afraid that I'll let something slip. I don't want to draw any more attention that I already have."

Makarov closed his eyes in thought of his next words. "I wish I could understand how you feel, but your situation is unheard of. All I can say is that becoming anti-social for the sake of your friends is a bad decision. You'll hurt them more by doing so. My advice to you is to treat this how you normally would. Build strong bonds and become friends with others. I know you don't want to face this realization and I don't want to be the one to say it, but you may be stuck here for much longer than you want to be."

Naruto nodded sadly. He was well aware of that outcome. He just wanted to go home so badly, but the thought of staying here was unthinkable to him. He at least wanted to say goodbye to his loved ones if he never saw them again.

"Again, I won't push you to join the guild, but the longer you stay here without our guild mark, the more people will become suspicious of you and your origins. Not even your training would be able to help you." Makarov said, staring at Naruto, who was looking at the floorboards. Makarov didn't understand the boy's need to be so reluctant to tell others of his situation, but then again he didn't have to live how Naruto had, so he had to place to speak on the subject.

"I know." Naruto responded simply, not trusting his voice at the moment. Naruto took several deep breaths to suppress his emotions, as he has done far too many times before.

Makarov waited a few long and tense minutes for Naruto to look up again, but with a bit more determination and resolution evident on his face.

"I can't say when I'll have an answer on whether or not I will join, but I can say it won't be too long. I'm not going to give up on returning to my home, but I need a little more time." Naruto said with a slight fire in his eyes, it was small, but still visible to Makarov. Makarov just nodded with a smile.

"I'm glad to hear that you aren't giving up so soon. You'll fit right in at Fairy Tail should you want to join. Now there is one more thing I need to talk to you about, since I'm sure you were a part of it." Makarov said. Naruto gave in a confused stare, forcing Makarov to elaborate.

"What caused the damage outside of the guild hall? None of the other children have come to me about this issue, so I'm going to assume that you and you alone were there to face the possible problem." Makarov said with a sigh. Naruto made an understanding 'o' noise before he thought of an explanation.

"Well I was returning to the guild late last night after my trip to the woods, and no, I will not explain why I was there," to this Makarov grumbled, but motioned Naruto to continue, "So as I was returning I sensed someone approaching the guild, and I could feel their hostile intent. I moved quickly so I could reach the guild before the person. As I suspected the person was attempting to attack the guild. I managed to stop him easily enough and sent him running. I didn't get his name, but from what I could tell he was a Dragon Slayer since he was saying 'Iron Dragon' along with his attacks. There was also a mark on his arm. I'm assuming it was a guild mark." Naruto finished in a business-like manner. Makarov was surprised with the amount of detail Naruto had given him. Makarov wasn't aware that Naruto was used to mission briefings, and this situation was basically the same thing in a sense.

"I see. Can you draw this symbol for me?" Makarov asked. Naruto nodded and Makarov gave him a small pencil and a blank sheet of white paper. Naruto did his best to draw the symbol, but his memory isn't the best and he only saw the symbol with quick glances during the fight. Even with the crude drawing, Makarov was able to figure out the symbol.

"Phantom Lord," Makarov grumbled. Naruto raised an eyebrow, but waited for Makarov to explain what Phantom Lord was. Makarov looked up at Naruto with a grateful smile.

"I'm glad you defended our guild hall. If that Dragon Slayer succeeded in destroying the guild hall, my children would have wanted payback. It's always a pain to try and defuse a situation like that." Makarov's smile disappeared and he became completely serious, "Phantom Lord is a rival guild, and has been teetering along the lines of becoming a dark guild, which is illegal, but the leader of the guild is a member of the Wizard Saints, like me. So he can escape the few illegal acts his guild has committed with only a slap on the wrist. It is surprising that Phantom Lord is also in possession of a Dragon Slayer. The Dragon Slayer is probably part of the Element Four, and elite group of S-class mages that belongs to Phantom Lord. I'll have to bring this up with the Council, although I doubt they'd even do anything about it. I'll also have to ask the members of my guild to return home in groups. I fear that Phantom Lord will strike once again, and soon." Makarov said with a hard look. He hated to think that his children were in any danger so close to their homes, but Phantom Lord is ambitious ad ruthless, so he will leave nothing to chance.

Naruto nodded, understanding the situation. As much as Naruto didn't want to face this fact, he liked the people here. They were all so nice and treated him much better than most people ever have before, and he wasn't even here a full week yet!

"I guess I have some work to do. You're free to go boy." Makarov said, shooing Naruto away. Naruto let out a small smile and exited the room.

The rest of the evening was uneventful. Makarov had enforced the rule that guild members were not allowed to leave the guild alone, when questioned, the old man stated that there were a few rouge wizards wreaking havoc on the local populous. The guild members agreed easily and laughed the rest of the night away. Naruto watched as people left in small and large groups with growing concern.

"I feel like something is going to happen, but they can take care of themselves." Naruto said while sitting at the bar once more. Mirajane was still washing dishes from today, as she always does at night.

"You will feel like that towards your friends." Mirajane said with a smile. Naruto wanted to retort that he didn't want to become attached to people here, but held his tongue. It wasn't necessary.

"So how are you going to get home? You can't leave without at least one other person." Naruto asked with slight concern. Mirajane just blinked at him a couple of times before she brought an index finger to her chin in thought.

"I'm… not sure actually. I sort of forgot that Elfman was still at home recovering from his injuries," Mirajane said awkwardly, embarrassed that she had forgotten that Elfman wasn't present, "I guess I can just walk home and hope for the best." Mirajane shrugged.

Naruto's response was immediate, "I could always, you know… walk you home?" Naruto suggested, but mentally he was pissed at himself. 'Dammit, I don't want to be attached to these people. Why do I have to be so soft hearted?' Naruto mentally cried.

Mirajane perked up at the idea, "That would be wonderful, but I wouldn't want to bother you." Mirajane said, but Naruto shook his head.

"Nope, I'm walking you home. Think of it as repaying you for injuring Elfman, which I'm still sorry for by the way." Naruto said with a smile. Once again, he cursed himself for his big, helpful mouth.

Mirajane clapped her hands together happily, "Okay then! We can leave right now!" Mirajane said cheerfully. Naruto didn't have a chance to respond as he was pulled off of his seat by a firm grip on his sleeve.

"So tell me more about yourself, Naruto?" Mirajane asked with a warm smile and a gleam of curiosity in her eyes as they walked down the dimly lit streets of Magnolia. Naruto had to admit, this place was beautiful at night.

Naruto scratched the back of his head awkwardly. He didn't get asked that very often, "Well… What do you want to know?" Naruto asked in return.

Mirajane tapped on her chin with her fingers, "Oh I don't know. Maybe something about your life as a child or some of the other places you've been to. Just give me something!" Mirajane practically demanded. Naruto jumped slightly at the small outburst before recomposing himself.

"My childhood huh? That's not exactly a topic I enjoy sharing, but whatever. I am an orphan, and was alone for a good portion of my childhood. Don't take pity on me because I don't need it. I've made peace with the fact that I had a crappy childhood a long time ago. Although I did have a few friends at the time. I spent most of my time traveling once I was old enough to care for myself." Naruto said. 'With every lie is a little bit of truth,' Naruto thought. If only his childhood was as peaceful as he had just described it.

Mirajane looked at him sadly, but remembered what Naruto had said about pity, so she didn't comment any more about Naruto's childhood. She was sure she got more information than Naruto was normally willing to share.

"I can understand a little of what you're going through. My siblings and I lost our parents early in our childhood, but we were able to find a new family within Fairy Tail." Mirajane said with a sad smile.

Naruto raised a curious eyebrow, 'Siblings? I thought she only had a brother?'

"If I may ask, who else is your sibling? I only know of Elfman." Naruto asked carefully. He could have been treading on thin ice as far as he knew.

Mirajane stopped walking for a moment to look at the sky, "I had a sister… She died a few years ago during an accident on a mission. That was the most difficult time of my life, and for Elfman's, as well as a few of the guild members that knew her quite well." Mirajane said with sorrow. She wasn't sure why she was being so open with Naruto, but it felt nice to share once in a while with a person who might understand her previous plight.

Naruto understood very well. While he had no siblings, he had lost friends and family throughout his life. His godfather, the Third Hokage, and Neji were very hard blows to take. All of the beatings and insults he received from the villagers were nothing to the emotional pain he had gone through during those times.

"I know it hurts to lose a person you love. It hurts much more than any blade or spell. I've felt that pain a few times in my life, but all you can do is live for them, which you are doing very well as far as I can see." Naruto said encouragingly.

Mirajane slowly returned her gaze to Naruto's blue eyes. She could see the sadness they have held before. Mirajane let a small smile grace her lips.

"Thank you for listening to me, Naruto. It's nice to talk like this once in a while." Mirajane said gratefully. Naruto smiled and nodded in response and gestured her to continue walking, which she did without a second thought.

After five more minutes of walking in comfortable silence, they reached Mirajane's home.

As Mirajane stood in her doorway, the light from the inside of the home giving her a radiant glow as Naruto watched her enter her home a few feet away. Before Mirajane entered her home, her eyes went wide when she realized something.

"Wait, Naruto. How are you going to get back to the guild?" Mirajane asked with concern.

"Um… by walking?" Naruto responded cheekily.

Mirajane pouted, "I mean how are you going to get home by yourself? You aren't allowed to go back to the guild by yourself." Mirajane asked, stepping out of the doorway a little bit, but still holding the door open.

"Again, I'm going to walk. I'm pretty fast, so as long as I get back to the guild quickly we shouldn't have an issue." Naruto retorted before turning to walk away.

Mirajane shuffled her feet anxiously. She didn't like the thought of anyone being in danger, especially if there was something she could do about it.

"How about you stay here for the night?" Mirajane asked. Naruto turned around to respond, and was surprised by the amount of emotion that she was emitting. Her smile was warm and welcoming, almost motherly.

Naruto actually considered the idea for a moment, but declined. "Sorry, I prefer to sleep in a secluded area. I'm not really used to sleeping under the same roof as other people." Naruto said. He was playing his role as a nomad quite well in his opinion.

Mirajane frowned at that, "Okay… but I swear if you get injured I won't be happy!" Mirajane yelled. Naruto chuckled in response.

"I'll keep that in mind." Naruto said in good humor as he jumped to the nearest roof and began his run back to the guild.

'You better not get hurt, you dummy.' Mirajane thought with a small smile while entering her house. Her first priority, to check on Elfman.

Naruto hopped from roof to roof to quickly return to the guild. He figured that his trip back would be simple and easy. Of course that wasn't the case.

As Naruto was passing a nearby park, he heard heavy footsteps several yards away. Naruto immediately stopped his running and slowly made his way towards the noise. After following the noise to the center of the park, Naruto hid himself behind a large tree and poked his head around it. What he saw made his eyes widen in surprise and anger.

Right before his eyes, three people were being pinned to a tree by tight shackles while the person performing the action was sloppily painting a symbol on their abdomens. Upon closer inspection he realized that the three people pinned to the tree were Fairy Tail members. Levy, Jet and Droy if he remembered correctly. They were all pretty nice, especially Levy, although when he started to talk to Levy a bit more, Jet and Droy got defensive for some weird reason.

But none of that mattered now. What mattered now was how he was going to handle this. He couldn't figure out what the symbol being painted on them was from his distance, but he assumed it is the Phantom Lord guild mark. The cloaked figure was most likely the Dragon Slayer he fought, since Naruto was getting the same vibes from the figure and that the figure was wearing an identical cloak to the one that the Dragon Slayer had worn before Naruto fought him.

'I could fight him right now, but then I would only have one culprit. Someone needs to show Phantom Lord that they can't do this without repercussions.' Naruto thought before an idea popped into his head, 'I could follow him back to their guild and fight the members, but that could be dangerous. Oh, what the hell! I need to do this! I can't let this go unpunished.' Naruto thought angrily. With his mind made up, he patiently waited for the figure to finish his painting. Naruto decided to give the figure a large head start for multiple reasons. One being that Naruto knows that Dragon Slayers had a good sense of smell since one of the Fairy Tail members mentioned it offhandedly as they watched Natsu brawl against other members, and two because the figure was terrible at covering his tracks. Naruto probably could have followed the Dragon Slayer the first night, but he was still unaware of most of the laws here. He didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble.

After thirty minutes of following the figure, Naruto finally smiled triumphantly when the figure made its way into an odd looking building. It was definitely imposing, Naruto figured as much from a big guild.

'Now what's the best way to go about this… the Dragon Slayer knows my face and my relation to Fairy Tail, so I shouldn't go in without a disguise. I don't want to kill unless I have to, but I need to make these people afraid of something. Maybe a transformation jutsu?' Naruto thought. Naruto just sat on the roof he was perched on for a few long minutes before an idea popped into his head. 'Oh yeah, definitely a transformation, and I know just who to be.' Naruto said as a large smirk presented itself on his lips. He made two clones to sit motionless on the roof while Naruto moved in to start his plan.

Inside the guild building, the members were cheerful and happy, why? Because they just struck a large blow against their rival guild, Fairy Tail. Gajeel was in his corner, eating his metal like he usually does. Jose, the Phantom Lord guild master approached the Dragon Slayer with a wicked smile on his purple lips.

"Great job, Gajeel! It seems that you've redeemed yourself from your previous failure." Jose congratulated. Gajeel grunted in response.

"I just underestimated that blond guy. If I ever meet him again, I won't make the same mistake." Gajeel said with confidence, but on the inside he wasn't as sure. That blue sphere that the blond had used against Gajeel was no joke, and the blond didn't even look like he was even trying.

The rest of the guild members were drinking the night away in celebration, but the sounds of cheers and merriment slowly died off as a low mist rolled in through the main door. None of the members moved an inch, almost memorized by the slowly moving mist as it continued to enter the building endlessly.

Jose stared wide eyed at the spectacle before signaling his members to be ready. Jose grabbed a radon guild member tightly. Gajeel retreated to the support beams that were near the roof, preparing for anything.

"You, go notify the rest of the Element Four. I have a bad feeling about this." Jose commanded. The member responded immediately and ran to another part of the guild building.

The rest of the mages stood battle ready, some were swaying somewhat from the amount of alcohol they had been consuming previously. As more minutes passed by most of the members were sweating nervously, the tension slowly getting to them. The mist was blocking most of their separate visions, making it nearly impossible to see more than a few feet forwards.

"Someone's been naughty…" A deep voice said, trailing off at the last word. Most of the members stood upright at the voice. It certainly wasn't something they wanted to hear in this situation.

"One of you has done a bad, bad thing..." The voice spoke once again, seemingly from all around them. Some of the members were beginning to panic and fire random magical attacks blindly.

"If one of you does a bad thing, and the rest of you celebrate it, means that all of you deserve punishment…" The voice spoke once more, but this time it was followed by the sound of something heavy being dragged along the ground. Now a few of the very weak hearted members were beginning to cry in fear. Gajeel was trying his best to pinpoint the voice, but his senses were being screwed with.

'Somehow this damn mist is messing with me.' Gajeel thought angrily.

One random member began to back up until he bumped into something solid. The member slowly turned his head. His eyes went wide and his mouth began to open, a scream threatening to escape his throat at the person before him.

"You're first. You will learn why you should fear a true demon." The tall, imposing, face-bandaged man said lowly while raising his sword high above his head.

The last thing that was heard was a terrified scream before everything went to hell for the Phantom Lord members.

**I like the way I did this. This went much better than I thought, but I didn't know what else to add to the Mirajane/Naruto dialogue. So sorry for that. **


	7. A Demon's Power

**Kurama Thunderstorm: He didn't use a genjutsu, he has the hidden mist jutsu, and he won't meet Gaara because Gaara isn't dead.**

** 179: Well they wouldn't discuss either of those because Naruto is still unsure about everything. And neither of them know about their 'Demons'**

**2n2kas: Nah dude, that's not weird ;)**

The scene inside of Phantom Lord could be described as something straight out of a horror story, and unfortunately for the members of Phantom Lord, they were experiencing true terror.

The members couldn't even see where the attacks were coming from. Gajeel himself was struggling just to pinpoint where the shouts were coming from thanks to the mist. The only thing that wasn't seemingly affected by the mist was his hearing, but even with his acute hearing he couldn't filter through all of the screams so figure out where the mist-user would strike next.

"I've had enough of this, Iron Dragon's Roar!" Gajeel yelled from the support beams, firing his tornado-like attack at the ground below. The attack was successful, but only for a moment. The Iron Dragon's Roar was able to dissipate a portion of the mist, allowing Gajeel the ability to see the ground once again. His attack did hit two unsuspecting guild members, but Gajeel didn't care. In the section Gajeel made visible, a tall man was visible, but only for a moment before he went through a series of hand signs and vanished in the mist once again.

'We need an open space. This damn mist is so condensed we can't do a damn thing in close quarters!' Gajeel thought. Before he could even make his way outside he was struck from behind and sent plummeting to the ground below. Gajeel growled and stood back on his feet with his Iron Dragon's Sword at the ready.

"Now whose sword is better, yours or mine?" Gajeel heard a deep voice ask. Gajeel swung behind himself blindly, but hit nothing but air. His skin was already glistening from the humidity the mist caused, thankfully not rusting him, but it was still bothersome.

"You were the cause of this." The voice spoke again. Gajeel once again swung randomly, but finished with the same results. Gajeel growled before he jumped into the air to take his original position back, but found a hand on his leg. Gajeel only had time to widen his eyes before he was thrown back to the ground with force.

"You bastard! Come out and face me!" Gajeel yelled in frustration. Gajeel covered his body with his Iron Dragon Scales in case he was struck again and retracted his sword so he didn't use too much of his magic power.

"Alright… Just know that you asked for this." The voice said. Gajeel heard heavy footsteps nearing him from directly in front of him. Gajeel smirked and took advantage of knowing his opponents position.

"Iron Dragon's Roar!" Gajeel yelled once more, firing his breath attack into the mist in front of him. Gajeel's smirk grew when he heard a grunt of pain. Gajeel ran in to secure the advantage he assumed he had, but much to his confusion there was a guild member with several cuts littering his body. This was usually the result of his breath attack, so how did he hit this person?

"Attacking blindly will only harm your comrades." The voice spoke. Gajeel whipped his head around to see the voice, but was forced to duck when he saw a large blade being swung horizontally at him from his left. The large sword sliced off a few of Gajeel's hairs, not that he really cared. Gajeel held his arms up in a close guard in case the blade was swung once again.

"You are foolish, little dragon. You've made a mistake and now your guild pays the price." The voice spoke. A tall body suddenly appeared to Gajeel's right, surprising him. Gajeel held his arms in a cross guard above his head as the large sword was swung once again. Gajeel grunted in pain as the sword cracked his Iron Dragon Scales. Gajeel punched at the man, but his fist was blocked by the flat of his large blade. The man grunted before he pushed against the fist of the Dragon Slayer, easily throwing him off of his blade.

Gajeel rolled in midair to regain control of his body before he landed in a crouch. Gajeel rolled out of the way of another sword swing. The attack missed Gajeel, but cut right into the floorboards with ease. Gajeel finally got a good look at the sword, and his eyes widened.

"C'mon Iron Dragon Slayer, I thought you liked metal!" The man taunted, charging at the Dragon Slayer. Gajeel sent another roar at the man, but before the attack connected to the man, he replaced himself with a chair. The chair itself was shredded, but now the man was nowhere to be seen.

'Dammit, where are the Element Four?!' Gajeel raged mentally. A foot connected to Gajeel's head, sending him flying straight into the guild's bar. Gajeel groaned as he stood once more, grabbing a handful of metal silverware and eating every last utensil. Gajeel grinned as his the cracks in his scales sealed themselves and he felt a small burst of power surge through him.

"Do you really think that you can defeat the Demon of the Hidden Mist?!" The man yelled menacingly as he strolled into Gajeel's view, his sword resting on his right shoulder. The mist seemed to clear up a bit, but only to see a short distance. It seems that the mist was finally starting to dissipate. Gajeel took a step back due to the chilling feeling he received from the cold glare of the 'Demon,' but smirked as he finally saw his reinforcements arrive from behind his foe.

Being so attuned with wind chakra and the assistance of Sage Mode alerted him of a slight change of the wind current. Naruto didn't allow his transformed face to show surprise. "How sad, that someone so black of heart must fall by my hand!" A large man explained from behind the blade wielder with tears streaming down his face. The blade wielder turned his head slightly just to see what he was up against now.

The man was definitely tall, probably about the same height as himself. He wore a green hat that was round at the top and had a wide, thin base. He also wore a large green overcoat with a high collar and a long baby blue scarf. Underneath the open overcoat as an orange shirt and black robe covering his legs. Underneath the robe were a pain of maroon pants and black slippers. Around his neck was a necklace adorned with red crosses and a skull in the center. His face was tanned and had a rectangular shape to it. The most prominent feature was the simple blindfold he wore around his eyes.

The man held his open palms close together before making them face the 'Demon of the Hidden Mist.' His palms glowed faintly as two magic circles appeared to the left and right of 'Zabuza.' The man continued to cry, but was abruptly silenced when he was sent backwards by a kick to his stomach. 'Zabuza' turned his attention back to Gajeel, who was leaned back with his right leg outwards.

"Iron Dragon's Club!" Gajeel yelled as his leg formed itself into a thick metal pole and extended towards 'Zabuza.' The Hidden Mist user lazily left his left palm out to intercept the attack. 'Zabuza' caught the attack and used his chakra to hold himself to the ground. Gajeels eyes widened once more when 'Zabuza' tightened his hold on the metal pole and began to slowly crush it. Gajeel retracted his club quickly and leapt onto the second floor.

"How sad… How sad that you were immune to Metsu!" The large man cried out. 'Zabuza' turned his attention back to the man and smirked.

"So you're the one who's messing with my mist. Tell me, what is your name?" 'Zabuza' asked. He definitely should be finishing up this fight so he could go back to Fairy Tail and inform Makarov of the situation. He had already made a clone during the fight in the mist to secure the three injured Fairy Tail wizards, but had it dispel after finding Makarov and dropping off the injured. He needed all of his clones for this fight, and he already had the two outside gathering Nature Energy, well one now. There was also the clone with them to dispel the two when they were finished gathering Nature Energy. Since he wasn't using any large jutsus he was able to stay in Sage Mode longer. So he had any other clone knock out the weaker members after giving them a scare. Those clones dispelled themselves after taking out the weaker members.

"I'm Aria, one of the Element Four. It's so sad that I have to fight you in these circumstances!" Aria cried. 'Zabuza' just raised an eyebrow. Gajeel remained ready to fight on the second floor once the battle resumed.

"Because I won't be your only opponent!" Aria cried once again. 'Zabuza' seemed confused by this behavior, but was forced to jump back when a large amount of water was send towards him. 'Zabuza' growled, remembering he wasn't being concealed in the mist anymore thanks to Aria. 'Zabuza' had to dodge once again when a wave of fire was thrown at him, followed immediately by a barrage of stone. 'Zabuza' expertly dodged the stone until it ceased its assault on him.

"Now then. You have made a huge mistake entering my guild hall. Now you will face the true power of Phantom Lord." A chilling voice spoke from behind the other newcomers, who were all on the second floor, along with Gajeel and Aria.

'Zabuza' got a good look at all of the new fighters. It was pretty easy to distinguish which of them used what element to attack him.

The first one was a skinny, spiky green haired man with a monocle on his right eye, his mustache was also green. He wore a brown suit with a white collared shirt and a red tie. He also had a black cape attached to his elbows. 'Zabuza' assumed that the man used earth.

The second man had black and white hair with a portion of it tied back in a messy ponytail. He had a black line going across his face and passing over his nose. He wore a red gi that had fur attached to the neck of it. His arms were covered in fishnet sleeves and a katana was tied to his hip. 'Zabuza' assumed that he used fire.

The third new member was a girl with blue hair that was curled at the end. Her entire attire was blue with white fur trimming. She wore a tall hat and a thick looking dress with a white doll hanging off her neck. Her skin was pale and her expression was gloomy. 'Zabuza' thought that she looked pretty, despite her depressing expression. Of course, 'Zabuza' figured she used water.

The final new member was tall and skinny with a purple scheme to his appearance. He had neck length red hair and a strange hat, the top of the hat drooped over his shoulder. He had a long red mustache and pointy, high eyebrows. He had a purple overcoat with a high collar. A white button down shirt with a strange necklace was underneath the overcoat. He also had orange pants and silly looking shoes, but he also radiated dark energy. 'Zabuza' could feel it, and it made him sick to his stomach.

'Zabuza' gave them all one last look. Gajeel, the guy in purple, and the guy in red were smirking at him. Aria was crying. The guy in brown was wiggling his body, which was odd, and the girl in blee just looked depressed. 'Zabuza' started to chuckle slowly before it turned into a maniacal laugh. This seemed to unnerve Gajeel and the guy in red a bit, but they kept smirking.

'Zabuza's' laughter ceased abruptly before stabbing his sword into the ground so he could lean on it.

"So are you the Guild Master or the Jester? It's hard to tell since you're spewing out such good jokes. As if your mages could take me down!" 'Zabuza taunted, spreading his arms wide. Internally Naruto was observing each of them carefully, especially Jose. He remembered what Makarov said about Jose. He was apparently on par with Makarov and a Wizard Saint. If he could goad the dark mage into attacking him, he could take him out of the fight quickly. That would make things easier.

It seemed to do the trick, or so he thought.

Jose growled, "Sol, immobilize him!" Jose commanded. On command the man clad in brown sunk into the earth and reappeared behind 'Zabuza'

"Salut monsieur Demon. I am Sol, part of the Element Four as you can already tell." Sol explained with a strange accent and a creepy smile. 'Zabuza' turned to face his new opponent. He wasn't concerned with them attacking yet. Even if they were going to attack him he'd sense the danger coming with his Sage Mode.

"Alright Sol. So what will you do to immobilize me? I guarantee you won't be able to since I will see it coming." 'Zabuza' asked, pulling his sword out of the ground.

Sol looked annoyed, "I must insist that you call me Monsieur Sol, and as far as immobilizing you. Well that will be a surprise." Sol said with dangerous glee. 'Zabuza' felt movement behind him, so he swung his sword behind him to intercept the foe, but stopped mid-swing after what he saw.

"W-what the hell?" 'Zabuza muttered. Sol reappeared in front of 'Zabuza's' sword with a smirk.

"Ah yes, I took the liberty of looking through your memories when you stepped on me earlier, although you didn't know it. I must say that your life is tragic. I've also never seen such a place as the one you call home, very intriguing. Some of your memories couldn't be accessed by me for some reason, such a shame." Sol said, taking delight in the shocked expression of 'Zabuza.' In front of 'Zabuza' was a tone statue. The statue was a small child, a very familiar small child.

"You were so lonely back then." Sol gestured to the small statue. The statue was of a young Naruto. The expression it displayed brought back memories of his sad childhood. "Your abilities are quite unique as well. You are too dangerous to be allowed to live, unfortunately. Such a shame. If you were a part of our guild we'd never be surpassed, but alas. It is time for you to die."

'Zabuza' looked surprised, but before he could react Sol was already attacking. "Merci La Vie!" Sol exclaimed.

Suddenly Naruto was watching different memories flash before him. Each of these memories were ones that he wished he could forget. His sad childhood, the death of the Third Hokage, the defeat at the hands of Sasuke. The memories kept getting worse and worse, until they repeated at the worst one. The one where he lost control.

Before his eyes was Hinata and Pain. He watched as Pain stabbed Hinata over and over again. It never seemed to end.

"This… this is a genjustu. It had to be. Hinata is alive! She's alive damn it!" Naruto yelled, tears threatening to escape his eyes. Sol watched from the real world as 'Zabuza' was slowly encased in stone.

Naruto had no idea that he was being covered in stone. All he saw was Hinata getting 'killed' right before his eyes. He noticed every small detail of the action. The careless look on Pain's face, the weak and pained look on Hinata's. The blood… So much blood.

"Enough… I've had enough! Release!" Naruto yelled, finally getting movement back into his body. On the outside world Sol watched in horror as 'Zabuza' began to move his hands close together, before they connected into a hand sign.

"Release…" 'Zabuza' muttered. Suddenly all of the stone cracked and broke off of his body. His eyes flew open and found Sol's quivering eyes. The look 'Zabuza' was giving Sol couldn't be categorized as anything other than a glare sent from hell itself.

"You just forced me to watch my darkest memories. You know my secrets. I was going to let you and your guild mates live, but you've crossed the line." 'Zabuza' growled out, slowly walking towards the cowering Sol.

"Attack him!" Jose commanded. The rest of the mages that were watching from the second floor charged at 'Zabuza,' but his gaze was firmly fixed on Sol.

"You will all die here." 'Zabuza' muttered dashing at Sol before any of the other members could reach him. 'Zabuza' swung his sword directly at Sol, but to his surprise Sol was still able to move expertly, leaning back to avoid the blade, but Sol couldn't dodge the bone breaking fist the was sent into his chest.

'Zabuza' went for the kill, but was stopped by a wave of water. 'Zabuza' used his wind chakra to enhance his sword and slice the water. The water was immediately followed by fire. 'Zabuza' rolled out of the way and slashed at the air, but the air manifested into Aria, who now had a large cut going horizontally across his chest. He stumbled back and vanished. Gajeel went in for a surprise attack, but was stopped when 'Zabuza' vanished.

'Zabuza' reappeared and felt a surge of power going through him, meaning his second clone was dispelled. 'Zabuza' made a cross with his fingers.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu." 'Zabuza muttered, two clones popped into existence with swords drawn. The Phantom Lord members watched in astonishment at this. As if one 'Demon' wasn't bad enough, now there were three!

"Let the blood bath begin," 'Zabuza said, making sure that he was loud enough for the others to hear. Whether he was serious about his words or not had yet to be decided, but he figured he'd just go with the flow.

**Kind of a crappy ending to the chapter, but I wasn't sure how to end it.**


	8. The Rules of Earthland

**This took a while. Tests and such, you know how it is. Now time to respond to some reviews.**

Johnny Fox:I know Naruto hasn't killed anyone, but he's trained to. Read and see what happens. Also I've already decided who Naruto is going to meet. Obito might work, but he and Sasuke would already kinda cancel out because of who I chose beforehand. Madara is a no either way because he doesn't like or respect Naruto at all. Is has to be people who have wither changed because of Naruto or people who he has affected positively in their lives. And about the small moments with other women, I'm really trying, it's hard though lol.

Kurama Thunderstorm: I'm just going to go ahead and say no. It will be explained, but probably not soon.

skg1991: Yeah, but I had a bit of writers block, so I just rushed the previous chapter.

Naruto and his transformed clones stood on the far side of the Phantom Lord guild hall while the Element Four, Gajeel, and Jose stood upon the second floor of the guild hall. Naruto was still in his transformed Zabuza form along with his clones, each wielding the Executioners Blade on their shoulders. Naruto had only one more clone left outside that he could use to obtain more nature energy required to activate Sage Mode. He couldn't use both that were currently outside because one was required to dispel the other one. He was able to have two clones on standby now since the one he sent to find Makarov completed its objective and dispelled. The memories revealed a very disheveled and shocked Makarov asking the clone to repeat itself, which it didn't do. Naruto needed it more.

'I need to take that Aria guy out first so I can use the Hidden Mist Jutsu. My clones already know that he's the main target, so they will keep the rest of these guys busy while I deal with him.' Naruto thought calculatedly. Aria's magic kept on interfering with Naruto's mist, so stealth was out. He would have to keep substitutions in mind in order to keep his clones alive just in case.

"So… who's first? How about you, you invasive freak?" The real Naruto said, pointing a finger at Sol, who visibly froze at the direct attention of the terrifying swordsman. With an unnoticed signal, Naruto and his clones began to slowly advance with synchronized steps, each one nearly silent as they touched the ground. All eyes focused on Sol. Naruto wanted to make Sol suffer, even if Aria was a priority. Sol's time would come soon enough.

Jose thrust his finger towards the advancing group, "Don't let them get close!" Jose commanded. His plan was to remain on the high ground while he and his members used ranged attacks to keep their enemies at bay. The attacks would be quick, synchronized, and decisive. In his mind it seemed like a wise decision, but he would soon find that reality is much harsher.

"Iron Dragon's Roar!"

"Zetsu!"

"Water Slicer!"

"R-Roche Concerto!"

"Rainbow Fire!" (Totomaru doesn't really say a command for his attacks in the English dub, which is what I watch, so I'm just gonna use what I find on Wikipedia and what I can think of.)

"Dead Wave!"

Each attack connected to where the Zabuza group was approaching, creating a massive explosion and even bigger dust cloud. This destroyed most of one side of the already ravaged guild hall as well as a large portion of the roof, revealing the starry night sky. The destructive attacks were sure to attract some attention from the town, but it should be sufficient enough to eliminate their foe. 'Should' being the key word.

"D-did we get him," A nervous Sol asked. He had a right to be nervous though. He assumed that the swordsman was targeting him first for messing with his mind. While this was not the case, Sol didn't know Naruto's real plan. Nobody has yet to focus on the fact that the stone replica on the child Sol created didn't look a thing like the person they were currently fighting.

Gajeel laughed cockily, "Don't be such a wuss, there's no way in hell he survived all of our attacks at once." He said, allowing his iron scales to recede back into his skin as he crossed his arms, thus lowering his guard.

Juvia however, wasn't as cocky. While she did doubt that their opponent would be able to survive their attack, there was no exact proof yet due to the dust cloud formed after each attack connected to the ground. So she remained silent, but her arms were still raised.

Totomaru had his hand on the handle of his sheathed sword, scanning the perimeter, "Want me to send in some more fire? Just in case?" He asked, also slightly nervous. He had to restrain himself from wildly shooting fireballs into the smoke cloud in fear. The sword dude was scarey as hell!

Jose scoffed, "There's no need. Do you doubt you and the rest of the guild's strength that much?" Jose asked, focusing on Totomaru who stiffened. Totomaru wasn't stupid enough to go against the word of his guild master.

"N-no… of course not." Totomaru responded, hoping not to enrage his guild master further.

Jose smirked, "Then don't be such a coward. Aria, remove the dust. It's irritating my eyes."

Aria nodded and began to weep once more, "It's so sad! To see someone so jaded vanquished by those more powerful than himself!" With a flick of his wrist, the dust was forcefully pushed away from the ruined guild hall. Each conscious member eyed the spot where the Zabuza trio should have been dead, but only saw one large sword lying on the ground. The sword was only slightly scorched and chipped, but other than that it seemed fine.

"Oh and would you look at that! He even left us a going away present." Gajeel said with a cackle before leaping off of the balcony to retrieve his prize. Gajeel quickly walked over to the abandoned weapon and picked it up with ease.

"Damn this sucker's heavy! This looks like some good metal though." Gajeel commented before gripping the blade by the sides and directing the point to his toothy maw. Something wrapping itself around his feet stopped him though.

"It's rude to touch other people's things without asking." A cold muffled voice stated. Gajeel's head snapped downwards towards the voice, but only found two hands sticking out of the floorboards. Gajeel barely had time to let out a noise of his shock before he was pulled into the ground until only his head was sticking out.

"What the hell! I can't get out!" Gajeel yelled as his body wiggled to regain its freedom, but found that the cement foundation below the floor was holding firm.

Back at the balcony, the Element Four watched the scene before them in disbelief. Gajeel just got dragged into the ground! How did that even happen?!

Jose was the first to react, but instead of a tactical plan, he only spoke out of shock, "What the hell was that! Gajeel, get out of there you fool!" Jose commanded, and received a struggled 'I'm trying dammit!' in return.

"Now you're open!" Two identical voices behind the Phantom Lord guild members spoke in unison. They each turned their heads towards the voices, but the members that were closer weren't lucky enough to evade the counter attack.

The two sword wielding clones attacked in unison, striking at the closest possible members, which happened to be Aria and Juvia. Aira made an attack to teleport away, but the top portion of the blade caught his chest and he was sent over the railing. The blade that struck Juvia however wasn't as accidently merciful.

The blade cut straight through her torso, leaving her in two, but just as quickly as she was struck down her body reattached itself with water. This internally surprised the cloned swordsman, forcing him to back away from her quick counterattack.

'Her body is made of water? How am I supposed to deal with that?!' The Zabuza clone thought while using his blade to swipe away incoming flames courtesy of Totomaru. Now this clone was left to deal with Juvia, Jose, and Totomaru while the second clone had to deal with an injured Aria and a fearful Sol. 'Why did I get stuck with the tougher ones?' the clone thought in annoyance, 'At least the real 'Zabuza' would join the fray in a moment.'

Jose was focused on the body pulling itself out of the ground near Gajeel, depending on his guild members to deal with the other two opponents. Jose really wished that Gajeel would pull himself out of the ground already, but it seemed like that wouldn't happen anytime soon.

Naruto finally pulled himself out of the ground and inspected his fingers, which were bleeding, fingernails chipped from digging through the ground. 'I haven't done that since the Chunin Exam. Good thing Sage Mode gives me enhanced strength or else I would never have gotten through the foundation.'

Naruto walked over to his blade, which was only a foot away from the buried Dragon Slayer. Naruto picked up the blade and inspected it, frowning at the chips in the blade. 'How do I repair this again? Oh yeah that's right!' Naruto thought as he ran his bloody fingers along the side of the blade. The blade greedily accepted the blood offering and after a few seconds the blade looked like new once more. Naruto had never seen this happen in person, but it was fascinating. His fingers healed soon after.

Naruto turned his head to Jose, who was struggling with the decision to attack or remain close to the rest of the Element Four. Naruto rested the blade on his shoulder once more and crouched. Jose brought his guard back up, ready for the incoming attack.

His thoughts of an impending attack changed when Naruto completely changed course over to the bar right below the second floor railing. Jose prepared to attack until he saw where Naruto was running to, and didn't have time to act as a blade coming from behind him nearly cut his head off, distracting him from the real Naruto's actions.

Aria was laying under and on top of glass and wood that had shattered on his fall to the bar. He bled from multiple places due to glass and the large wound from the blade. He let out a loud bloody cough as the clone that cut him jumped down from the second floor and roughly stomped on Aria's stomach to keep him still.

"Is it sad that you are about to die? A man who condoned and supported his ally's atrocities against other people?" The Zabuza clone asked, positioning himself so his legs pinned Aria's arms and the top of the blade rested on the ground while the center of the blade was just above Aria's neck, much like a guillotine. Naruto was still seeing red with rage for what Sol did to him, which was fueling his actions right now. In his mind he was just really getting into character. (If anyone has seen Akame Ga Kill they will know what I'm trying to describe.)

Sol rushed down from the second floor in order to assist Aria. Despite his fear, if Aria died then he would have to fight the swordsman alone, which wasn't what he wanted. So he needed to save Aria in order to keep himself alive longer. Two heads were better than one, even if one is woulnded and one is nearly pissing itself.

"Platre Sona-!" Sol began, but was cut off when another blade struck the back of his leg, cutting deep, but not completely through. Sol let out a cry of pain as the real Naruto went for another attack in hopes of finishing Sol off.

The clone on the second floor fighting Juvia and Totomaru, the clone about to execute Aria, and the real Naruto all froze in place as a rush of memories hit them all at once. While the real Naruto and the clone with Aria weren't in danger of being attacked, the once left with the fire and water mages had given them an opening which they used to land a few solid strikes on the clone. The clone dispelled in a puff of smoke.

Naruto and his remaining clone leapt away from their respective preys and landed near the main door. The clone dispelled in another puff of smoke while Naruto growled out a curse.

"Damn that old man!" Naruto yelled, ripping his hand into his pocket and retrieving several smoke pellets, quickly smashing them into the ground. The smoke allowed him an abundance of cover so he could escape the Phantom Lord mages.

The mages were shocked. The swordsman who was basically wiping the floor with them had just retreated in an instant. Most of the members were rendered speechless, but Totomaru was able to find his voice.

"Um… what just happened?"

Naruto leapt from roof to roof towards the location of his energy gathering clones, or where they were supposed to be. He easily found the spot in less than a minute, but instead of his clones, he found a short old man waiting patiently with a small scowl.

As Naruto landed, Makarov let out a sigh, "I'm glad you at least understand the situation. I know you don't want to accept it, but these are Earthlands rules. You will have to follow them to the best of your abilities to avoid getting yourself into more trouble."

Naruto released the Zabuza transformation, letting his real body show itself, and boy did he look pissed.

"Look old man, those assholes messed with my head, badly. I was forced to witness things I wish I could forget until I nearly broke down. So if they aren't dealt with one way or another, I will come back, and I won't be nearly as merciful as I was this time." Naruto said with a growl. Naruto quickly sealed his scroll and turned his heel towards the large forest that surrounded Magnolia, unable to look at Makarov at the moment. Naruto was afraid of lashing out at the old man, but he couldn't help it at the moment.

"Don't look for me. I'll be back at the guild later tomorrow." Naruto finalized, and with that he vanished. Makarov squeezed his eyes in order to relieve the strain behind them due to stress.

**A Few Minutes Ago**

_Makarov was pissed, no… pissed couldn't even begin to describe what he was feeling. He was woken up in the middle of the night after having such a pleasant dream of skimpy bar maids and such by Naruto, who told him that Phantom Lord has attacked three Fairy Tail mages and hung them to a tree. This was obviously a declaration of war, but Naruto also said that he would deal with Phantom Lord while he told Makarov to retrieve the injured Fairy Tail guild members._

_Makarov quickly dressed himself and ran out of the guild and went to the homes of the closest guild members, who also proceeded to rush out of their homes in order to assist in helping the injured mages. Makarov however, changed his course to where he knew Phantom Lord was. He wanted nothing more than to take Jose and his entourage out, but knew he couldn't go in alone. There was also the fact that Naruto was with them apparently. Makarov still didn't know how much power Naruto had, but if he felt confident enough to take on Phantom Lord by himself, then he was either very cocky or incredibly powerful. Makarov almost turned around to where Naruto had told him to retrieve Levy, Jet, and Droy, but stopped when he remembered Naruto's occupation back in his home world._

"_He's going to kill them!" Makarov shouted in realization. He hurriedly rushed over to where Phantom Lord was in order to stop Naruto. If Naruto completed his objective, then he could be caught and labeled as a dark mage, which would have made it much more difficult to hel_

_p Naruto return home. _

_Makarov was a few hundred yards from the Phantom Lord guild hall when he heard a voice on the roof, it was one he was very familiar with, but that was what confused him greatly._

"_Have you gathered enough nature energy yet? This is boring just standing around." The voice spoke in a childish tone. When he got no reply, he chuckled, "Oh right, you can't move anything when gathering nature energy. How did I forget that?"_

_Makarov didn't hesitate when he enlarged himself so he could easily get onto the rooftop. When he looked to see who was on the rooftop, he nearly slapped himself for even being surpised considering what he found._

"_Old man! What are you doing here? Go help your mages!" The Naruto clone that wasn't sitting cross legged demanded._

_Makarov shrunk back down to his normal size and landed on the roof with ease, "You have no authority to be ordering me around, Naruto. I have people handling my injured mages. I'm here to stop you from doing something stupid." Makarov said with urgency._

_Naruto's eyes widened, "What do you mean? How could you not want revenge? I don't even know your guild members that well and I want to kick Phantom Lord's ass! So if you're their master then you should know what I'm feeling." Naruto exclaimed with surprise and anger._

_Makarov's features became much darker, "Boy, you have no idea what I want to do to Jose and his guild, but they are still a guild. Even if now they will be labeled as a dark guild, Jose is a Wizard Saint. He will have the law backing him up. Don't go through with this. You'll only regret it later when there's a bounty on your head."_

_That forced Naruto to pause. So he would basically be branded as a dark mage, or a rouge ninja. Either way Naruto didn't want any unnecessary attention, but he also couldn't just go back on this._

_Makarov thought of one more point, "This is also a guild matter, and you're not a Fairy Tail guild member, so you need to back off. I won't be responsible for housing a murderer who isn't even affiliated with my guild."_

_Naruto looked at the ground, then back to the clone, who had orange around his eyes. Naruto sighed before striking the seated clone, dispelling it._

"_Just so you know, I'm not sure what the boss will do when he gets my memories. All I know is that he will be angry one way or another." The last clone said before putting up a hand seal and dispelling._

"_I shall deal with the repercussions when the time comes." Makarov muttered sadly._

Makarov sighed as the man before him vanished. He would have to worry about him later though, now he needed to inform the Magic Council about what happened between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord.

**I hope you enjoyed, I'm glad with how this turned out. And I'm sorry if my writing is a bit blunt and lacks detail, I'm not the best writer. Also I'm accepting ideas for this story since this story along with Jaune The White Dragon Slayer are going to be my main focuses over the summer. I'll try to update others as I go.**


	9. Stress Relief

**Some parts of this are pretty rushed, but I think it turned out all right. Now to talk about some stuff.**

**Kurama Thunderstorm: You bring up some pretty good points, and has made me reconsider a few things. They won't change the story much, and I don't want to spoil anything of what I was planning beforehand, but just know that you actually helped quite a bit :P**

**naruto1246: I kind of go into detail of why Naruto has been acting the way he has been until now in this chapter. It makes sense in my mind. And if a few details seem off about Naruto not having certain things it's because I haven't read the manga and I'm only up to wherever the anime is. I got what info I could from Wikipedia. Don't worry about thinking you've spoiled anything for me because ive seen enough pictures and things to know how it ends. Naruto will be darker in some parts, but he'll lighten up a bit after the Phantom Lord Arc.**

**Lord: Thanks, and yeah Naruto is gonna be dark at times in this fic, but like a said above, he'll lighten up a bit after the Phantom Lord Arc. Also about pairings… I'm absolute trash when it comes to romance in fanfiction. I want to try and steer away from harems because that'll just be a mess if I write it, and I do like the NaruMira pairing as well, but as I said I'm trash when it comes to romance. We'll just see how it goes.**

**So yeah, review and all that good stuff.**

The first part of Naruto's self-isolation in the thick forest was meditating. For a good hour he tried meditating, tuning out all thoughts and his surroundings, but the memories that Sol had forced him to see were just too distracting. It was something about someone being in his head and knowing what Naruto has seen and been through that already pissed him off, but to have those memories thrown back at him set him over the edge. Naruto rarely ever tried to kill people, hell he never had killed a person technically. He was usually the person who gave people second chances, and Naruto was probably likely to give it to them, but what Sol had done had thrown that idea out the window.

Naruto actually hoped he could have turned them to at least a neutral side. The water girl seemed to be depressed there, but if her depression was due to her surroundings or something else was unreadable. The fire guy and Aria were impossible to figure out. He barely got to talk to Aria because Aria just attacked him and same for the fire guy. Jose was defiantly a no. That was like trying to convince Orochimaru to return to Konoha. Gajeel was a possibility, even if it was a slim one. Sure, he did hurt the Fairy Tail mages, but he didn't kill them. He was acting under orders, even if he seemed to enjoy it. Naruto was able to change Gaara even after Gaara had killed people on multiple occasions. Naruto wasn't going to give Sol a chance, enough said.

Back to Naruto, meditation wasn't working for him, so he took it to the next level. He gathered nature energy slowly, and when he had enough for Sage Mode he would slowly let it out of his system. It actually had a calming sensation to it. He never had much time to just let it flow to his body because he was either training with it or making his clones gather it. He may have gotten the memories of the sensation afterwards, but they were always blocked out by the fight he would have been having. Even if he was able to push those thoughts back, other thoughts presented themselves.

These thoughts consisted of theories of how he got here in the first place. Was this whole thing some elaborate Genjutsu? Or did he get sent back in time to some unknown period? Was this some last ditch effort from Sasuke to try and get rid of him? These thoughts then went back to homesickness. What had become of everyone else? Were they safe from harm? Were they trying to bring him back? Were they dead? These thoughts were much harder to repress than his painful memories.

So Naruto spent some more time letting nature energy flow through his body steadily. Any faster than his current gathering speed would have turned him into a toad statue. Even with his mastery over Sage Arts, nature energy was nothing to laugh at.

Even that didn't work. Naruto was still angry, and now he had no person to vent it out on. Damn that old man. Naruto almost didn't care if he was labeled as a dark mage or whatever, but he also knew it would put a damper on his plans of finding a way home if there was one.

But then he realized just where he was. He was sitting in a dense as hell forest with seemingly no inhabitants other than birds and such. Naruto stood up, now in Sage Mode due to the leftover nature energy that was in his body, and began to punch trees. These trees toppled over with massive indentations due to the strength behind Naruto's attacks.

Naruto continued this well after his Sage Mode ran out, the trees fell at a much slower rate afterwards, but eventually fell like all the rest that Naruto encountered. Naruto hadn't noticed the sun slowly start to rise, or the irritated Dragon Slayer that stomped his way over to Naruto.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing whiskers?!" Natsu yelled loudly, surprising Naruto enough for him to assume a combat stance before he saw who it was.

"Natsu? What are you doing out here?" Naruto questioned, still surprised to see the loud fire user.

Natsu rubbed his eyes tiredly, "It's hard to sleep with all of the damn noise that you're making! I tried to tune you out for the last hour, but you just won't stop!" Natsu shouted irritably. Naruto took note of Natsu's somewhat disheveled look, like he had just rolled out of bed except he was wearing his every day clothes. Naruto looked at Natsu, confused as to why or how Natsu heard him all the way in the woods.

"Are you camping nearby or something?" Naruto asked, leaning against a nearby tree, hoping that this conversation would distract himself from his thoughts. Natsu shook his head to show his denial before he pointed towards the area behind him.

"No, I live close by. And by the way, if anyone is going to destroy these trees it's me!" Natsu declared, pointing at himself proudly.

'If he lives out here, he probably doesn't know about what happened to his comrades.' Naruto thought grimly before focusing on Natsu once more.

Naruto tilted his head, "You live out here? I thought all of the Fairy Tail mages lived in town?" Naruto asked.

Natsu shook his head, "Nah, most do, but it's too noisy for me. Enhanced senses aren't very good for trying to sleep in a town. So I built a house in the woods for me and Happy." Natsu said before he grinned, "Wanna see it?" Natsu asked excitedly.

Naruto was surprised by the invitation. Naruto stood straight up and ran his hand through his hair, "I don't want to be rude." Naruto said in an attempt to turn down the offer, but Natsu was having none of it.

"Ah come on! You've gotta be lonely out here by yourself. It's always good to have friends around you." Natsu said with a toothy grin. Naruto was taken aback by the declaration of friendship. He thought that he saw people as friends quickly, but Naruto had only known Natsu for one day, and in that day he had kicked Natsu's ass. Other than that they had no prior interactions to their current discussion, but here was Natsu claiming to be friends with Naruto after so little time had passed.

Naruto shook his head, "Sorry, but I'd rather be alone right now. I've got a lot on my mind." Naruto said, looking at the ground beneath him. In a split second Naruto's battle senses kicked in when he heard the sound of air being pushed aside by a kinetic force. Naruto leaned back just in time to dodge a fist sent by Natsu.

"Natsu, what the hell-!" Naruto began, but was cut off when Natsu sent a roundhouse kick to Naruto. Naruto guided it away with the back of his hand before kicking Natsu square in the chest, sending him back several feet.

"As I was saying, Natsu what the hell dude?!" Naruto questioned/yelled at the pink haired Dragon Slayer, who in turn had a look of seriousness and annoyance.

"You're too damn serious all the time! I've only known you for a day and I can tell that you're a way more energetic person if our battle a few days ago has anything to say about it, but you're choosing to be a downer. I won't accept it! Even if you're not a mage of Fairy Tail, you need to act like one if you're gonna hang around us!" Natsu shouted back before launching himself at Naruto once more, still not using his flames.

Naruto got angry for what he perceived as Natsu being insensitive. 'What the hell does he know! He doesn't know what I'm feeling right now! I don't know where the hell I am, I don't know where my home is, I don't understand this world's rules, and I don't know what to do! I'm all alone out here!' Naruto mentally raged as Natsu continued to send punches and kicks his way. None of them hit their target, but they just never let up. Eventually Naruto got annoyed and sent Natsu away with another well placed kick to the chest. Natsu slid back but did not fall. He kept his eyes on Naruto's, not wavering for a moment. They stared into each other's eyes. One pair was a slightly darker than normal cerulean blue while other were a determined dark olive green. It then clicked in Naruto just what Natsu was thinking.

'He… doesn't know. He just sees me as a person who is depressed and wants to cheer them up. He's like me when I was younger. Even now he's just trying to distract me from my thoughts by fighting me,' Naruto thought as Natsu approached once more, throwing caution to the wind as Natsu attacked the superior fighter again. Naruto caught an incoming fist, but received a surprising head-butt to the nose.

Naruto didn't even register the pain of the head-butt as his mind was too preoccupied with his realization. 'What the hell am I doing with myself? This isn't me! I've been treating this situation like it's the end of the damn world for me! But I need to keep an open mind, I need to be calm, and I need to treat this like I treat everything else.' Naruto thought as Natsu smirked at his successful hit. Natsu retracted his captured fist and backpedalled. Natsu took a large intake of breath, but before he could roar Naruto held his hand out to stop him.

"Thanks… Natsu." Naruto said quietly with a smile. Natsu exhaled slowly and grinned childishly.

"What are friends for? You seem like you'd be a much happier person when you're not so depressed all the time." Natsu responded before walking up to Naruto and extending his hand, "So, My offer is still open if you want to see my house." Natsu stated, still grinning childishly. Naruto looked at Natsu for a brief moment before returning the smile, and while it was a much more reigned in smile, it still portrayed his happiness.

"Sure, that sounds good." Naruto said. Natsu cheered a pumped his fist into the air before he marched off with Naruto in tow.

After a fairly short walk the duo approached a… somewhat decent home. Naruto almost grimaced when he saw the state of Natsu's home. It seemed like a disaster waiting to happen. Some of the wood that made up the walls and roof were rotted and looked like they'd break with the lightest touch. Naruto suddenly felt like going into the house was a bad idea, but Natsu insisted. Before Naruto knew it he was inside of the safety hazard that was Natsu's home.

The inside was even worse than the outside. Clothes and trash littered the floor. The kitchen didn't look remotely usable. Moldy food covered old utensils and pots. The walls were cracked and there was no light source, so Naruto had to be careful for what he couldn't really see. The house itself was only one room. Naruto could see the hammocks that Natsu and Happy slept on, one of which was taken by the blue cat. Natsu glared at his small cat friend and muttered, "Bastard can sleep through a storm." All in all, the mess resembled Naruto's own apartment in multiple ways.

One thing that Naruto noticed was one large section of the wall was taken by several odd items and sheets of paper. Upon closer inspection Naruto saw that the papers were actually mission requests with completion stamps on them. Each of these sheets of paper was attached to different items. Each item was different from the last. Some of the odd items were placed on a shelf because they couldn't be attached to a piece of paper. These ranged from a creepy looking necklace with a skull on it to a pile of rubble wrapped in a small hammock to a maid uniform. Naruto didn't want to know about that last one.

"Oh, you found my memory wall! These are all of the missions I've ever taken." Natsu exclaimed happily. Apparently Happy could sleep through a storm because the cat didn't seem fazed in the slightest by the volume of Natsu's voice. Natsu walked over from his spot by the door and began to point at specific mission sheets.

"This one was my first mission, that tooth was from one of the thieves I knocked out!" Natsu declared proudly, before pointing at another, "And this one was my first mission with Lucy!" he pointed at one that mad a picture of an odd looking egg shaped man.

As Naruto listened to Natsu talk about his 'memory wall,' Naruto couldn't help but smile. 'This is actually pretty cool. I wish I had done this back home. Maybe I could start doing it here…' Naruto thought before he shook his head to rid him of those thoughts. He was going to strive to be like he normally was, but he didn't want to feel too attached to this place. If he ever left, and dammit he would get home eventually, he didn't want to be hurt. He also didn't want to hurt others by getting too close to them just to leave and never return.

Naruto returned his focus back to Natsu, who had finished pointing out different missions and turned his attention back to Naruto.

"So… you're some kind of nomad or whatever right?" Natsu asked, suddenly very serious. This took Naruto by surprise, so much so that he nearly blew his own cover by saying no.

"Uh… yeah. I'm a nomad of sorts." Naruto answered weakly, but Natsu didn't seem to pick up on it.

"So you've been to a ton of places right?" Natus asked, getting a nod from the blonde.

"So you've seen a much of neat stuff right?" Natsu questioned again. This time Naruto started to get annoyed.

"Are you going somewhere with this?" Naruto asked. Natsu nodded rapidly, still holding his serious look in place.

"Have you by any chance seen a large red dragon somewhere? Hopefully recently?" Natsu asked with clear hope in his voice. Naruto almost wanted to lie just to make Natsu happy, but he knew that would lead to more issues.

"I'm sorry, I haven't seen any sort of dragon at any point in my life. Why, are you trying to slay it?" Naruto asked. In his mind it made sense, Natsu being a DRAGON SLAYER and all. His mind was terribly wrong when Natsu's serious look was replaced by once of offended anger.

"What?! Why would I want to kill my dad?" Natsu asked incredulously before he thought about what he said. Natsu suddenly looked sheepish and scratched the back of his head and chuckled nervously, "Oh, whoops. I forgot you didn't know that. My bad." Natsu apologized before brushing his hand against his scarf.

Naruto looked greatly confused, "Wait wait wait, your father's a dragon? Like of those large lizard things with wings?" Naruto asked, trying to trace the shape of a dragon with his fingers.

Natsu scoffed, "Don't go comparing my dad with a lizard, but yeah. He raised me and taught me my magic." Natsu said, engulfing his hand with flames. Natsu stared sadly at his hand, his feeling of longing increased as he stared at the flames.

Naruto patted Natsu on the shoulder and smirked, "Who's being depressing now, huh?" Naruto said. This brought the pinkette out of his stupor and he dispelled his flames.

"Sorry. It's just I've been looking for him for a long time and haven't even found a trace of him. He just left without saying anything." Natsu said with a sigh, "It's been a real pain to try and find him. I've traveled all over the place just to find out that my lead was only a dumb rumor." Natsu complained before he crashed in his hammock. Naruto leaned against the wall closest to the hammock.

"So what about you?" Natsu asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence. Naruto turned his head to Natsu.

"What about me?" Naruto asked in return.

"Well… what about your parents? Were they travelers like you?" Natsu asked. Natsu failed to notice the brief flash of sadness that went across Naruto's face.

"That's… hard to answer," Naruto started. He honestly didn't feel like opening up to anyone just yet, or at all for that matter, but Natsu seemed like the kind of person who he could talk to normally seeing as how Natsu feels a sort of abandonment that Naruto felt as a child.

"If you don't want to answer it's fine. Every Fairy Tail wizard has their secrets." Natsu said sympathetically.

"No… it's fine. Well I actually didn't know my parents growing up. I was an orphan. I had a grandfather of sorts, but we weren't related by blood. I didn't find out the identity of my parents until a few months ago actually." Naruto answered. He didn't want to reveal any information that might jeopardize his cover, so he kept it simple. He wasn't going to say that he met his father and mother within his mind because that was a bit extreme even for this odd world.

Natsu sat up slightly, "Really? That sucks, but at least you know who your parents were right? That's gotta count for something." Natsu said in an attempt to cheer up the blonde.

Naruto nodded in agreement with a small smile, "Yeah. It does." Naruto said vaguely.

They stayed in a comfortable silence for the next hour. Every once in a while one of them would try to start a conversation, but it would eventually die off. Natsu had dozed off a few times while Naruto stared at the 'memory board.'

A small yawn got the attention of the two teens in the room. They watched as Happy rubbed his eyes slowly and spread his wings in order to get off of the ground.

"Natsu, are you awake yet? I want a fish." Happy said tiredly, not taking in his surroundings quite yet.

Natsu groaned with annoyance, "Yeah, I'm awake. You can blame this jackass for that." Natsu said, pointing at a chuckling Naruto. This got Happy to finally fully wake up and open his eyes, which eventually fell on Naruto.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" Happy asked curiously.

"He was breaking stuff in the woods, which woke me up. I swear you can sleep through a freaking earthquake!" Natsu answered for Naruto. Happy looked to Naruto for confirmation, to which Naruto nodded.

"Hey, you can't break stuff! That's Natsu's job!" Happy said with a grin, pointing his small paw at Natsu. This made Naruto laugh much louder than before. Naruto's mirthful laughter only increased as Natsu began to have an argument with Happy in an attempt to defend himself, but Happy was easily winning.

"Whatever, can we just go to the guild now?" Natsu finalized. Naruto mentally groaned as he began to think of what was going to happen once they got to the guild. Natsu was going to go ballistic once he found out what had happened to three of his guild mates, and naruto was going to have to talk to Makarov which was bound to suck.

Naruto sighed. Might as well rip this bandage off now so Natsu didn't destroy anything important in his rage. "Natsu." Naruto said firmly, gaining the attention of the Dragon Slayer.

"Yeah?" Natsu asked while getting out of his hammock and fixing his clothes.

Naturo took a few deep breaths to prepare himself for the inevitable. "There were multiple reasons why I was angry and stressed when you found me in the woods. One of those reasons was due to something that happened between your guild and a dark guild known as Phantom Lord." This got Natsu and Happy's full attention as they began to look worried.

"Three of your guild members, Levy, Jet, and Droy, were attacked last night and hung to a tree." Naruto felt the temperature in the room spike as Natsu began to growl angrily.

"What?! Where the hell are those Phantom Lord assholes?! I'll burn them to ash!" Natsu declared furiously, sparks were beginning to form on his body. Before his whole body could combust into flames, Naruto snapped his fingers loudly, bringing Natsu's focus back to Naruto.

"I wasn't finished. I saw who did it and followed then, but I also sent word to Makarov. I assume he took the necessary steps to help your friends and get them to safety. As for me, I went into the Phantom Lord guild hall and raised some serious hell." Naruto said with a grimace. He wasn't proud of what he had done, but he hoped he was effective in scaring the members enough to stop them from causing some more trouble.

This surprised Natsu greatly, "You went into a dark guild by yourself? And you did it because of what happened to people from a guild you're not even a part of?" Natsu asked, the temperature starting to die down. Naruto nodded.

"Yes, and I also found their S-Class mages. In all honesty if my fight with Erza was anything to go by, then Fairy Tail's S-Class mages are much better in every way. There was also another Dragon Slayer there by the name of Gajeel. I was able to beat his ass and drag him into the ground, literally. I was also able to nearly cut the leg off of one of them and leave a rather nasty cut into another's chest. I would have done much more if your guild master hadn't stopped me. He told me that it was an issue that needed to be resolved by Fairy Tail. So now that Phantom Lord is labeled as a dark guild, the Magic Council or whatever they're called will hopefully deal with them." Naruto finished, getting wide eyed looks from the two other occupants of Natsu's house.

"Wow, that's pretty brutal." Natsu muttered. Natsu's expression turned into annoyance, "I'm still pretty pissed that I didn't get to get a few hits in, but I don't need the Magic Council on my ass again. They're annoying enough as it is." Natsu said. His expression then turned into one akin to gratitude, "Thanks for doing that for our members Naruto, but next time something like that happens. You'd better let me know or else." Natsu threatened playfully. Naruto chuckled at Natsu before nodding.

"You'll be the first person I notify." Naruto said.

After ten minutes, the trio exited Natsu's house and began to walk through the woods. Natsu informed Naruto that was about a fifteen minute walk from his home to the guild hall. Naruto didn't mind walking with Natsu, it was relaxing.

"So you beat up the Phantom Lord mages?" Happy asked from his perch on Natsu's head. Naruto nodded.

"Sure did. All of the minor mages were easily defeated, and I did some serious damage to the stronger ones." Naruto said with confidence.

"I would have done way better!" Natsu declared, causing Naruto to smile.

"Let's make it a competition next time then, eh?" Naruto said. Natsu grinned and quickly agreed.

As the trio walked together in peace, a large explosion was set off from Magnolia. Naruto and Natsu didn't even need to look at each other for confirmation before they both sprinted towards the town as fast as they could. Thankfully they were already close to one of the towns entrances so Naruto didn't need to outrun Natsu and Happy.

As they approached the guild, they took notice of the large cannon in the water just outside of the town. The barrel was pointing straight at the location they were trying to get to, which increased their worry tenfold.

When they finally arrived at the location of the Fairy Tail guild hall, they were both equally surprised by what they saw. Nearly all of the Fairy Tail guild members were fighting dark, ghostlike creatures and other mages alike outside of the guild hall, with the exception of Laxus and his Thunder Legion, Mystogan, and surprisingly Lucy. As many questions as that last one brings up, their focus was currently on the red-haired girl who was panting heavily and looked like she just took a massive beating. Her armor was cracked and dented in multiple places. After a few moments, she fell to her knees. She was caught by several members who were close by. Makarov was defending any of the wounded Fairy Tail mages in a corner, but none of the enemy mages seemed to try and fight him. Mirajane was behind Makarov, tending to the wounded.

Natsu wasted no time in joining the fray, punching the nearest looking dark mage who was attacking Cana. Naruto on the other hand went straight to Makarov to assess the situation.

"Old man, what the hell is going on?!" Naruto demanded, sending several shadow clones to help any ally mages.

Makarov turned his alert attention to Naruto and looked slightly relieved to see the blonde's face, but he still looked overwhelmingly angry, "It all happened so fast. There's no time for details so I'll make this brief. Jose recalled all of his subdivisions. I received word from one of my S-Class wizards shortly after I had ordered him to begin attacking the sub-divisions. He was only able to take out a few before they all went to Phantom Lord. Jose eluded the Wizard Council and sent his mobile guild hall to attack us. Jose used a large cannon called Jupiter. Erza just blocked the attack, but in doing so injured herself greatly. Lucy was also captured early this morning at her home. We couldn't get to her in time and now they are holding her hostage. I would go in there myself, but Jose threatens to kill Lucy if I leave my guild hall at all. He hopes to wipe me out with Jupiter. He'll fire again in fifteen minutes with a stronger attack." Makarov said grimly. Naruto nodded and turned his attention back to the Jupiter Cannon.

"Will you allow me to interfere?" Naruto asked. His eyes never leaving the Phantom Lord guild hall.

"What?" Makarov asked.

"You said that this was a problem that only your guild should have to handle. Do I have your permission to help your guild, even if I am not a member?" Naruto asked.

Makarov didn't hesitate in his answer, "At this point I don't care. Do what you want brat." Makarov said with annoyance, hating to have his own words thrown at him.

"Then consider Phantom Lord disbanded." Naruto said. Naruto quickly ran over to Natsu, who was delivering a flaming punch into the stomach of a dark mage.

"Natsu! Let's have that competition now!" Naruto yelled over the sounds of the battle while pointing at the Phantom Lord guild hall. Natsu looked over at Naruto, then to where he was pointing, and then grinned.

"Hell yeah, I'm fired up!" Natsu declared, already running towards the dark guild.

Before Naruto could follow, a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Naruto turned around and saw a shirtless Gray with his normal lazy scowl and Elfman, who was standing behind him with a transformed arm.

"Are you and Flame-Brain going to the behemoth of a guild hall?" Gray questioned as attention shifted over to the Phantom Lord guild hall.

"Yeah, we should be enough to handle it, but if you guys want to join then go for it." Naruto said with a smile.

"Gladly." Gray said, smirking. Naruto felt confident with bringing some mages along for the ride. His clones could handle what the weak dark mages threw at them and if things started getting messy then his clones would dispel and inform him of what's happening.

"Defeating dark guilds is manly!" Elfman shouted as he joined the duo. Naruto sighed as he sprinted away from them, earning shouts of surprise and annoyance at his speed. Naruto saw Natsu and Happy quickly approaching the dark guild hall and sped up. He had a rough estimate of Natsu's strength, so he knew that Natsu shouldn't be alone in the Phantom Lord guild hall since he was about the same strength as most of the members.

"I don't think I'll go in as Zabuza this time. I'll fight them with my own power." Naruto whispered to himself as he approached the large guild hall with a fire in his eyes. This time he wasn't going in as a man who would strike fear into the hearts of mages. This time he was going in as Naruto Uzumaki, ninja of Konoha and holder of the title 'Most Unpredictable Ninja.'


	10. Fighting in the Rain

**These updates might be more spaced out than normal. Can't help it.**

**Also if people could leave reviews on the most recent chapter it would help a lot.**

**Guest: No, Sasuke will not be in this.**

**pwndnewbie: Do you mean substitution jutsu? If so, then you'll like this chapter **

**2n2kas: Thanks! That means a lot to me! I'm really excited for future arcs.  
**

**Guest: Thanks! I'm glad you like this story.**

**Two things that ive seen get told to me more than once, and both i do want to apologize for.**

**One: This is gonna sound like a BS explanation, but i got into dark Naruto fanfics recently, and i read so many that it kinda messed with my own memory of Naruto's childhood. So I accidentally wrote in that Naruto was beaten by villagers. I'm well aware of the fact that Naruto was not beaten by anyone besides the three kids that harassed Hinata. I don;t feel like its entirely necessary to change it, but if more people bring it up, then i will. **

**Two: I didn't think this would matter so much, but it came up a few times that Naruto no longer needs clones for the Rasengan. After a bit of thinking, i've decided to make that an official thing in this story. Naruto can use the regular Rasengan with one hand, but still needs clones and sage mode for the Rasenshuriken. I know he does this without either of these things in the Last Movie, but that is a few years after the story ends. So he didnt have time to train to use the Rasenshuriken with one hand. **

Naruto's plan of attack was simple. Get in, recover Lucy, make an attempt to turn any dark mages he encounters over to a better side, blow the place up with a Rasenshuriken, leave. Natsu had the advantage of flight because of Happy, allowing him to arrive at the Phantom Lord guild building before Naruto could. Natsu decided to go straight into the Jupiter Cannon, hoping to destroy the source of its power. Naruto pouted since that was his idea, and to think that someone got there before him deflated his mood.

'I'm supposed to be the unpredictable one!' Naruto complained mentally. Now Naruto was left with a different option, one that he was sure was only available to him, running up the side and going down from the roof.

He wasn't sure how Gray and Elfman were going to get across. He knew Elfman alone would have to swim if his only ability is to change his arm, but he hadn't seen Gray's abilities yet, so he may have a different way to get across. Naruto made one clone and had it follow Natsu inside of the cannon. Naruto waited until the clone entered the cannon after Natsu before running up one of the spider-like legs that made the guild mobile. He easily snuck past those who were watching from the windows. Naruto quickly crept up the side of the grim building, hiding from any possible outpost that enemy mages might be looking out of near the top. He also had to be careful of the shades. He wasn't sure if they acted as surveillance or not.

* * *

"Jupiter Cannon firing in five minutes," A feminine robotic voice echoed audibly. Jose must want to instill fear into Fairy Tail by projecting the countdown till their doom, but they would be safe. The clone with Natsu was going to stay hidden unless the power source presented itself. The clone was fragile after all. If the clone found no such source, then the clone would notify the original, who would hopefully find a control room and try to force them to stop firing the large cannon. If that didn't work… a good ol' Rasenshuriken would be required.

Much to the clone's surprise, the power core for the Jupiter Cannon was stupidly obvious. At the end of the cannon's barrel was a large room, which was guarded by one mage, Totomaru. The clone stayed on the ceiling of the room that held the power core of the Jupiter Cannon and didn't move to attack for multiple reasons. The clone had to occasionally dodge a stray fireball just to keep from getting dispelled. Natsu was quite literally in a standstill against Totomaru. Naruto was actually impressed that Totomaru could control someone else's fire and even more so when Totomaru began using a sword with Chunin level skill. The clone wanted to just rush in and destroy the power core, but with all of the fire being thrown around it would be a challenge just to remain intact. Natsu didn't even know the clone was in the same room as him. The clone couldn't get Natsu nor Happy's attention without getting Totomaru's as well. The clone also couldn't join the fight for the same reason that he couldn't attack the power core. He was likely to get hit by stray fire attacks before he could land a blow on the red-clad fire user. Eventually the fight took a pitiful turn when Natsu resorted to spitting on Totomaru, who in return used Orange Fire to attack Natsu with, which apparently had a disgusting scent and taste.

As the countdown went from minutes to seconds, the clone got incredibly nervous. Natsu was finally getting the upper hand in the fight, but didn't seem to be paying attention to anything else but Totomaru. The clone was getting antsy and almost jumped the gun a few times, but more fire stopped him in his tracks. Just before the clone got so nervous for the safety of Fairy Tail that it was about to attack the power core and hope for the best, Natsu sent a large fire attack toward Totomaru, but the fire mage scoffed and attempted to redirect it like he did to all of the rest, but this time the amount of fire was too great, and Natsu himself redirected his attack to slam into the hilt of Totomaru's katana, which was imbedded into the power core. The attack drove the sword straight through the power core, thus ending its existence with a mighty explosion that destroyed most of the room itself. It nearly hit the clone, but it removed itself from the crumbling roof just in time.

Natsu heard the thud of feet hitting the ground nearby. He lit his fists on fire, ready to fight another foe, but to his surprise it was Naruto standing on the other side of the rubble that Totomaru was perched on.

"Naruto, what're you doing here? You aren't allowed to take this guy out, he's going to be my first knockout!" Natsu declared. Totomaru began sweating nervously. Not only was he unable to control the fire that Natsu used, but now an unknown variable as entered the fight as well. Totomaru took a brief second to look at the newcomer before his eyes widened.

'This guy matches the description of the man that beat the crap out of Gajeel a few nights ago!' Totomaru thought, now quickly beginning to panic. The night Phantom Lord sent Gajeel to destroy the Fairy Tail guild hall, they fully expected him to return with a cocky smirk, proving that he completed his task. What they got instead was a bruised and beaten Gajeel, who looked both terrified and humiliated as his loss. Jose demanded who had done it, and Gajeel gave as many details as he could painfully remember.

Before Natsu could pounce on his soon-to-be prey, the entire building shook, knocking everyone except Naruto's clone off balance thanks to the chakra in his feet.

As Totomaru held the wall next to him to balance himself, he yelled, "He awakening it right now? But there's so horizontal stabilization in here!"

"Stabiliwhat?" Natsu asked, but was cut off when the building shook more violently than before. This time the clone stumbled slightly before righting himself.

On the outside of the now transforming guild hall, the original Naruto had to jump and evade moving parts that were shifting and changing from the outside of the guild hall. He noticed that the building itself was rising out of the water even more, escalating his height. Naruto stuck himself to where the hip joint now was, having been forced downwards in order to avoid getting hit.

'C'mon clone, dispel already and tell me what's going on!' Naruto yelled mentally, proceeding his clomb back to the top.

"You Fairy Tailers are through! Phantom's Giant will slaughter you!" Totmaru yelled with a large maniac grin on his face. Naruto turned over to Natsu, who was now on the ground sweating profusely and looking quite ill. Happy was making attempts to get him to stand again, but to no avail.

Totomaru noticed Natsu's sickly appearance and brought his arms up, "At least I'll be able to take one of you Fairys out!" Totomaru exclaimed, a magic circle appearing before him as he did so. The clone rushed in to aid Natsu, but found that his help wasn't required.

Totomaru's expression changed from one of manic glee to dumbfounded realization.

"Wait…" was all Totomaru was able to say before ice covered his arms and torso.

"What's happening to me?!" Totomaru yelled in a panic, now unable to move. Naruto felt the presence of more people entering the room and smiled. Turning his head to the broken wall that led outside, he saw a shirtless Gray and An already arm shifted Elfman, the latter was walking toward the near completely frozen Totomaru.

"You're not a man, you're a backwards shooting snowflake!" Elfman yelled, sending Totomaru through the ceiling with impressive strength. Before Totomaru was out of hearing distance, he said once last thing.

"That doesn't make any sense!"

Naruto chuckled before walking towards the two mages who were mocking Natsu. Natsu himself just looked relieved that he wasn't feeling sick anymore.

Gray took notice of Naruto's approach, "Were you here the whole time?" Gray asked, Elfman and Natsu were now also looking at Naruto, waiting for an answer.

"I got here a little after Natsu did, but I'm just a clone. The real me is heading towards the top of this thing to try and find an entrance from there." The clone responded.

Natsu grinned, "I'm glad you didn't interrupt my fight then! I would've been pissed."

Naruto nodded, "Well there were reasons why I didn't, but that doesn't matter now. What matters is figuring out what the hell just happened and taking this guild down." Happy immediately sprouted his wings and took off outside in order to see what happened to the outside of the guild building.

"Alright, so you're already heading to the roof? I guess we should branch off into other spots on the lower levels." Gray said, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Naruto and Elfman nodded in agreement. Natsu had already taken off on his own, causing Naruto to squeeze his eyes in annoyance.

"If he stayed a little longer he would have been able to hear this," Naruto muttered, but then raised his voice, "Okay, don't ask how I know this, but I do and I'll explain it later. There are three more Element Four members remaining. I know that's obvious, but I also know their abilities to an extent." Naruto said, getting raised eyebrows from the other two mages.

"But how do-," Elfman started, but was cut off by Naruto.

"I'll explain later. First, a large guy that wears green and cries a lot. He uses wind magic, as to any sort of special abilities I have no idea. Second, a girl with blue hair and clothing. She uses water magic and apparently can't get hurt by physical damage. Her body is somehow made of water. Third, a guy in a brown suit. He uses earth magic, and…" Naruto paused, remembering the one reason why he just wanted to blow Phantom Lord up and be done with it, "He has something that messes with your mind. He can see your darkest secrets and use them against you. Believe me, it sucks. Lastly, there's Gajeel, while not part of the Element Four, I suspect him to be around here somewhere. He's a Dragon Slayer, like Natsu, but he uses iron based attacks." Naruto finished, getting his hands into a dispelling seal, but was stopped momentarily by Gray.

"What… what about Jose?" Gray asked. Naruto's information was sure to be helpful, and all of it would be appreciated. He would surely ask questions later though.

"I'm… not sure. The shades outside are his, but I'm not sure how much his magic branches out. All I have to say is be cautious and don't fight him alone. He's Phantom Lord's guild master for a reason." Naruto said, before dispelling himself.

Gray and Elfman looked at each other, both skeptical and confused, but determined nevertheless. They both nodded and ran off into different directions.

* * *

Naruto was nearing the head of the large human-like guild building when a surge of memories hit him, giving him a mild headache. Naruto stopped on the shoulder guard of the gargantuan robotic weapon to sort through his new memories as well as wait for the pain to subside.

'Okay good, they've split up. Now we just need to…' Naruto thought, but the feeling of a drop of water brought him back to reality. Naruto looked up and saw large grey clouds looming over his head.

"Rain?" Naruto questioned out loud. The sky was clear just a few second ago, how could it rain so suddenly?

The rain began to quickly downpour onto the top of the mechanized building, already soaking Naruto. Not that he minded all that much. He was fine with rain.

He could hear footsteps slowly approaching him, their noise was louder due to the splashing of small puddles that were being formed by the rain. Naruto turned his head to see the newcomer.

"Drip drip drop. I am Juvia, the rain woman of the Element Four. Drip drip drop." The woman said, now appearing from the slight fog that formed. Naruto inwardly groaned at seeing her. Her appearance was no different than when he saw her last night, except she was now holding a pink parasol in her left hand.

"So you're my opponent, eh?" Naruto said, just audible enough for Juvia to hear.

Her gloomy expression did not change.

"I'm impressed that you've already struck down one of the four elements, however, you will not defeat any more than that." Juvia stated with confidence, but it was easily covered over by her overcast tone and expression.

'Dammit, she was the one person that I didn't want to fight. I can't touch her with my sword, which probably means I can't use taijutsu. I doubt my Rasengan would do much. Natsu or Gray would be a much better match for her than I am.' Naruto thought, figuring that Gray's powers revolved around the usage of ice from seeing the display of it on Totomaru. Gray would easily have been the best person for Juvia to fight. Even Natsu was better, despite having a fire based attack style. He could probably evaporate her or something with enough attacks, but oh well. He wanted to talk to her anyways. She seemed like the most reasonable one.

"Well if we're exchanging names, I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Nice to meet you!" Naruto said with a warm smile. He hoped this would get her to not attack him, and while the result he got was positive, Juvia's actions proved to be unusual.

After Naruto said his name, Juvia couldn't help but look at his face. His bright blue eyes were alluring, as beautiful as the oceans themselves. His hair that was flattened by the rain seemed to glow, even though the rain continued to fall. Like a light that couldn't be extinguished. The whisker marks gave him a distinct and charming look that went well with his welcoming grin adding on to his already warm and bright glow. All in all, he was positively radiant.

Juvia kept a straight face, but she could feel heat rising to her cheeks. It was very faint, so Naruto couldn't see it, but Juvia could most definitely feel it.

"I surrender," Juvia simply stated, turning her heel so that she could quickly walk away from Naruto. Naruto tilted his head in a confused manner, utterly baffled by the girl's sudden retreat.

"W-wait! Where are you going?" Naruto asked as he gave chase to the retreating girl.

Juvia was clenching her fist right above her chest, her eyes wide with surprise, "There must be something wrong with me… Why is my heart beating so fast?" Juvia asked herself, still out of earshot from Naruto, but he was quickly gaining on her. Juvia didn't notice his approach.

"Hey, can we at least talk for a minute?" Naruto asked as he jogged closer to the water woman, who in return spun around to face Naruto's direction, holding out a delicate hand.

"I have the strong urge to make him mine. I just can't help myself. Water Lock!" Juvia shouted. Naruto couldn't even let out a noise of surprise as the rain around him began to stick to him as if he were a water magnet. The falling droplets of water formed into a sphere around him, suspending him in the air.

'What! This is like the Water Prison Jutsu, except she doesn't have to be in contact with it!' Naruto thought as he made a futile attempt to swim out of the sphere, but remained in its center.

Juvia began to panic, "Oh no! I'm hurting him! He probably can't get out! I don't know what to do! I suppose I should release him," Juvia said as she paced back and forth rapidly, her brain frying itself.

As Juvia panicked about Naruto's current captivity, an idea struck him.

Naruto threw his hands up into his famed cross hand seal, forming one shadow clone. The clone grabbed onto the back of the original's jacket, and with one great heave, threw him out of the water sphere.

'Thank god it's not as dense as the Water prison Jutsu, or else I'd be screwed!' Naruto mentally cheered, thanking his luck.

Juvia couldn't help but widen her eyes in shock. There were now not one, but two handsome blondes before her. One of which was still trapped in the Water Lock, but just as quickly as he appeared, he vanished in a burst of smoke. The real Naruto smiled in return.

"Hey, that was pretty good! What else you got?" Naruto said, challenging her. He still didn't want to fight her, but maybe with enough compliments and praise she might listen to him for a bit. Even if that didn't work, he could usually think of something on the fly. Besides, he did like a good challenge as well, and Juvia was sure to give him one.

Juvia's mind was on full blast, 'He can create duplicates of himself? Is that his magic? I wonder just how many he can make, and what they could all do…' Juvia thought before more perverse images flooded into her mind, causing her blush to grow into a more noticeable shade of pink. Her feet shifted nervously as her thumb rubbed the handle of her parasol.

"Alright, if you won't come at me, I'll just come to you! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto exclaimed with a smirk, forming the cross seal and producing ten clones. Each clones drew a kunai and charged at the rain woman, who was having a debate with herself.

"Ah, how could I forget? We are on opposite sides of this war. Having to fight my love is painful, but I must do it for the sake of my guild's success. Water Slicer!" Juvia said with new-found determination, thrusting out her hand once more sending small, cresent shaped blades of water at her oncoming opponents. Half of the clones went to block while the other half chose to dodge. The clones that attempted to block with their kunai were surprised momentarily when the water went right through the steel of the blade. Their brief surprise was cut short due to the water attack hitting them as well, dispelling them. Two of the clones that dodged were still hit by the water, while the three remaining clones were able to avoid getting struck down. The three clones imbedded their knives into Juvia's shoulder, torso, and stomach, already knowing that they couldn't damage her, but still wanted to test the waters… no pun intended.

"I'm afraid that won't work on me. My body is entirely made of water." Juvia stated, back to her depressing monotone. With a flick of her wrist, more water blades struck down the clones, dispelling them. Naruto himself was forced to duck in order to evade the incoming blades. The water blades went upwards, striking the tip of the giant's shoulder plating, cutting it into three smooth segments.

"You cannot underestimate water. Its power and versatility can be increased by the skill of the user. In this case, you will be defeated shortly." Juvia said, lowering her hand to her side. "As much as I would like this whole ordeal to be over, we have our objective, your guild mate Lucy Heartfilia, and my guild master won't stop now until Fairy Tail is nothing but ruins." Juvia said, a tingle of regret in her voice.

Naruto sighed, scratching the back of his head, "Yeah, I can't exactly forgive you guys for kidnapping her, although I've kicked way more as for less than that. I'm not even a part of this guild if you can believe it."

This took Juvia by surprise, "If you aren't a part of Fairy Tail, then why do you fight for them so valiantly?" She asked, now curious of this blonde. She had also heard from Gajeel about the blonde that had beaten him up. She didn't pay this much heed due to her invulnerability to physical attacks, but now seeing that same man in front of her defending Fairy Tail once more, she couldn't help but ask.

Naruto looked straight into her eyes, his smile lowered "Because I literally have nowhere else to go. I am alone in this unfamiliar place, and Fairy Tail was the first to find me. Sure, if I dark guild found me, I would have stuck around until I found out about their objectives, but Fairy Tail is different. They have morals, and stick by them. They believe in friendship and family, and that is why they are fighting you guys. It's not for the sake of defending their guild at this point. It's because you've all hurt members of their family."

Juvia took a hesitant step back, overwhelmed by the emotional pressure Naruto was giving off. For a moment, she could see the sadness and anger in his eyes. The loneliness she was all too familiar with, and the undying willpower she wished she had.

It seemed that her expression and weather reflected her thoughts, because now Naruto looked concerned, "Hey Juvia, are you alright? You look sad," Naruto asked bluntly, looking towards the sky, "Huh, this rain really reflects the depressing atmosphere…" Naruto mused out loud. Unfortunately, Juvia took this the wrong way. Due to being already upset by flashbacks of her past, she translated Naruto's words as 'this rain is depressing.' Juvia fell to her knees in grief, dropping her parasol to the ground.

"I thought you were different. I thought we shared a similar pain, but you're just like all the rest." Juvia muttered before throwing her body upwards, expelling steam from her body, "How could you be so cruel!" Juvia yelled, sending a scolding jet of water at Naruto.

Naruto, letting his guard down in front of the somewhat emotionally unstable woman, was hit directly by the water. He was sent backwards, his skin burning from the temperatures of the water.

'What the hell!' Naruto yelled as he attempted to touch the ground so he could latch himself onto the surface, enabling him the ability to move.

Through the water, he could hear Juvia yell, "I'm through with love, and I'm through with you!" Naruto suddenly felt the pressure of the water build up even more. In a last ditch effort, Naruto righted his body so he was perpendicular to the ground and pumped his chakra into his hand, forming a swirling sphere of energy. (I got a few reviews saying that he can use the Rasengan one-handed now, and after looking over a bit of information, I've deemed this to make sense. So from now on he'll he making regular Rasengans with one hand. He'll still need clones for Rasenshuriken, even though he could do it in the movie, but he was also a few years older in that movie. So at least that makes sense.)

'I need to make it bigger to counter this attack!' Naruto mentally yelled, but the water was making his concentration short, making the process take much more time. He didn't have much time. The pressure from the water was making it difficult to hold his breath. Over the course of thirty seconds, he was able to make a Giant Rasengan and shove it in front of him. His attack took the brunt of the scalding water, both attacks cancelled the other out. Naruto fell to the ground ungracefully, taking in large amounts of air to make up for the oxygen he lost while in the water. Juvia still continued her rant.

"I've lived my entire life as a gloomy rain woman, but Phantom Lord looked past that! They welcomed me with open arms! I am one of the Element Four, a proud Phantom Lord wizard!" Juvia declared, launching another condensed attack of boiling water, but this time Naruto was ready.

"Once more, Giant Rasengan!" Naruto yelled, forming another large mass of swirling chakra in his hands, but now with more time and focus, his attack was much larger than before, thus dissipating the water while still remaining intact.

Juvia started at the large sphere in awe, 'That sphere dispelled by water completely, I can't believe it! It's so bright and powerful, just like him…' Juvia thought, taking a few steps back in shock and amazement. She had never encountered such a person. Someone who could be just as impervious as she was, but be so bright.

Instead of advancing with his attack, Naruto cut off the chakra flow in his hand, dispelling his Giant Rasengan. Juvia expected Naruto to look up at her with hate and resentment for the pain she just inflicted upon him, but found his eyes showing warmth and surprisingly, understanding.

"It seems that even in this place, this world is cruel." Naruto muttered, but loud enough for Juvia to hear, "You were alone, so you went to the first people to accept you with open arms. I did something similar. When I was a child, I was a loser. Bottom of my class, bottom in social status, and eventually the only child to fail graduating my school. A teacher gave me a chance to graduate, special credit of sorts. I eagerly and naively accepted the task, and the result was me committing a crime. I hadn't known his true intentions until the deed was done, but I was able to atone for my crime. That night I learned about my desperation for acceptance. To be on equal standings with those who seek to help others around them. I was able to achieve such a thing, but you're stuck with a dark guild. They care very little for their comrades from what I've seen. They may have been the first people to accept you, but they aren't the only people who will accept you. I've learned from my short time here that Fairy Tail gives everyone a chance, despite their past. You can still have a chance to live a good life, and not a life of crime." Naruto said, a determined and accepting grin on his face. His memory of the fateful night he had become a genin flashed into his mind, reminding him of how it all began.

Juvia couldn't form the words to return an answer to the blonde. Here was a man, who she apparently had strong feelings for, giving her a second chance. A chance to come out of the shadows that had swallowed her in her moment of weakness. She did appreciate what Phantom Lord had done, and had tolerated their twisted ways strictly sue to the fact that they accepted her easily. Her previous statement about being a proud member of Phantom Lord was a lie. She wasn't proud, not at all. She didn't have friends in the guild. The lower members feared her and the Element Four didn't really care for each other all that much. Gajeel rarely spoke to her, but at least he was a bit civil.

Juvia hesitantly looked up to meet his gaze, her hands playing with her nails nervously, "If I were to request to join Fairy Tail… Would you join with me?" Juvia slowly asked, knowing he wasn't a member. If she were to join this guild, she didn't want to be alone again. She feared for the treatment she might get for being a member of a dark guild that caused them pain, but if Naruto was there, then it would be worth any pain she may encounter.

Naruto paused, unsure of how to answer this. He didn't want to say yes or no. If he said no, then Juvia might not even try to join Fairy Tail, but if he said yes, then he would promise her something that he didn't want to do. He also still stuck by his nindo, never going back on his word. Naruto stared into the rain woman's eyes for a long moment, contemplating which decision was the right one, and eventualy, sided with the decision that would bring the rain woman to the light.

"Yes… I'll join Fairy Tail along with you." Naruto firmly said, sending the blue haired woman another warm smile.

Juvia felt tears form in her eyes. She didn't even attempt to halt their descent. She held her hands together with joy, unable to stop the rapid beating of her heart.

"I've… finally found another person who has accepted me," Juvia muttered, having never felt happier than in this moment. She fell onto her back, her legs no longer able to support her due to her exhaustion and happiness.

Juvia had to raise her hand to her eyes to block out a sudden bright light invaded her eyes. After a moment, her delicate eyes adjusted to the light. She was completely surprised by the light of the sun and the pure blue color of the sky, both of which she was unfamiliar with. Naruto run up to her, hoping she hadn't injured herself when she fell to the ground.

"Hey, are you okay Juvia?" Naruto asked, kneeling beside her. He raised his hands to support her, but he didn't exactly know where to touch her. So his hands just awkwardly hovered over her body.

She paid this no mind, so delighted by the blue sky she hadn't seen before this day, "I've never seen the sky before," she said with a gleeful mutter. Her eyes shimmering as she said so.

Naruto whipped his head around to look at her in shock, "Really?" Naruto asked, getting a nod in return. To this Naruto smiled, "Well, there it is. It's beautiful isn't it?" Naruto asked. To anyone else this would have been a rhetorical question, but to someone who has never seen the sky or sun before today, it was more of a question you would ask a person you were hoping would confess something.

Juvia diverted her gaze to Naruto, watching his golden blonde hair flutter in the breeze. His face almost seemed to glow with the radiance of the sun itself. "Yes… it is beautiful."

Neither of them noticed the symbolic doll that usually hung around Juvia's neck had been discarded during the battle, cast aside like the darkness that once had a firm hold on the rain woman's heart.

And with this, Juvia cut off her magic connection that helped power the Abyss Break of Phantom Lord's Giant, forcing its build up to last longer, giving the other Fairy Tail wizards more time to defeat their foes.

**This chapter came out much better than I thought it would have in my opinion. I've decided to make this a NarutoxJuviaxMirajane. I MIGHT make this a small harem, but I doubt it.**


	11. Cage the Beast

**Damn, I got some nice reviews on the last chapter, which I'm more than happy about. I honestly don't think that this chapter will be as great, and you will probably see why near the end.**

**Kurama Thunderstorm: His abilities will expand due to the Blessings in the future. He'll be getting a new Blessing with each Arc. As for another affinity… maybe. There's the issue that he was only trained with Wind, and that was just to add it to the Rasengan. He never learned any other wind jutsu. He wouldn't know any other jutsu with a different element unless he made them himself or until he gets a Blessing depending on which ones he gets. But if I do give him a new affinity I might let him use it in conjunction with his wind element to make a Kekkei Genkai**

**First Guy: Some of your guesses are correct, but remember that these people have to be people who are dead. Gaara may have died once, but he is still alive. I won't reveal which ones you guessed correctly for spoiler reasons.**

**I'm glad most people liked the pairing a chose. I also got a few requests of people to add. Mostly Erza, but also got Levy too. So that might happen, but I do want to keep this small. I'm still not great with writing romance and I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.**

Juvia wished that she and Naruto could just bask in the suns warm rays for hours. It is one thing to never have felt such a sensation, but it's another thing to experience the sensation with someone you truly care for, but alas, she was still stuck in the real world.

A slightly pained groan brought Juvia back from her daydream. Her head snapped towards the direction on the noise, fully knowing it was only her and Naruto on top of the giant at the moment.

"Are you alright?" Juvia asked, getting into a seated position and leaning forward slightly.

Naruto was rubbing his temples with a wince, "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just my clones are getting dispelled gradually and their memories are giving me a headache. Phantom Lord is really doing a number on Fairy Tail right now." Naruto said, standing up and dusting off his soaked pants.

Juvia looked down in guilt. She felt bad about supporting this attack on Fairy Tail in the beginning. Well not really support, but she didn't try to go against the orders she was given. Even though she was 'defeated' early on in the assault, her magic linked to the Abyss Break accelerated the speed until Naruto persuaded her to cut her ties and magic power to Phantom Lord.

Naruto easily noticed this and crouched down so he could be at eye level with her, "Hey, don't blame yourself. I said that Phantom Lord is doing some damage to Fairy Tail, but there are no major casualties yet," Naruto said, flashing his somewhat childish and warm smile to the rain woman, who couldn't help but smile in return.

Naruto stood up once more and held out his hand, "Alright, c'mon. I've got a job to do and I can't just leave you up here alone." Naruto said kindly.

Juvia looked at his hand and after a moment, she gently grasped the outstretched appendage. There was a faint blush dusting her cheeks, enjoying the warm feeling she felt when their hands touched. Naruto pulled her onto her feet with ease. He reached down and grabbed her cylinder shaped hat and handed it to her. She gratefully took her hat and placed it back atop her head.

"Okay, so I'm guessing that you're probably too tired to help me fight the other Element Four, right?" Naruto asked, noticing her drooping eyes. Getting a small nod in return, "Okay, so I'm going to have a clone take you into the woods until this all blows over. After that, I'll find you, okay?" Naruto asked, waiting to get an affirmative.

After receiving another nod, Naruto formed the cross hand seal. A medium amount of smoke was created, followed by another Naruto standing next to the original. Already knowing what to do, the clone scooped up the blue haired girl, who let out an 'eep!' of surprise.

"Wait!" Juvia shouted just before the clone began to run, stopping the clone in its tracks. "You need to stop the remaining members of the Element Four in order to stop the Abyss Break." Juvia said hastily, knowing Naruto would need this information.

Naruto blinked a few times before he finally registered the information. Naruto let out a sheepish chuckle, "Phew, I'm glad you told me that! I was about to try and find some other power source, but knowing this makes my job that much easier. Thanks Juvia!" Naruto said. He couldn't believe that he could've just gone right into the guild without this knowledge. Well he was already planning on taking out the Element Four members anyways, but this just seals the deal.

The clone didn't wait for Juvia's response, sprinting away with its precious cargo wrapped in its arms. Once Juvia and the clone were gone, Naruto proceeded to search for a way to enter the giant. This only took about one minute because he found a glass window facing towards the sky that was on the same platform that he and Juvia were fighting on. Using a kunai, he pried the latch open and slid inside with practiced ease.

**XXXXXXX**

After about three minutes of walking, Naruto could honestly say that he wished that he was a sensory type ninja or an Inuzuka, because he had no idea where he was supposed to be going. To him, all of the hallways looked the same. They were all just fancy stone and tiles to him, and it was getting on his nerves. He had already tried tracking any of his allies with Sage Chakra, but that only worked on those who used chakra. These mages used something different. He would have to ask about this later.

Naruto tried to remain focused and keep some semblance of stealth, but instead he just threw his hands into the air in frustration and sighed loudly. Not even caring that he was basically behind enemy lines.

"Where the hell is anyone on this damn thing?!" Naruto shouted at nobody. He honestly wanted someone to find him at this point, be it friend or foe, so he at least was doing something productive. He would prefer to find an enemy, so he could interrogate them for the layout of this place.

Naruto's acute senses took hold of him when he heard a roar echo down the corridor, followed by slow paced stomping. Seeing nowhere to hide from the possible threat, Naruto drew a kunai and got into a battle stance.

Whatever made the noise down the hall must have been farther away than Naruto thought. Eventually Naruto lost his patience and created a clone to figure out what was supposedly approaching him. Naruto watched as his clone sprinted down the hallway ahead of him and turned to the right. After about thirty seconds, Naruto got a surge of memories. The clone actually got clothes-lined as it went to make another turn into a different hallway. Whatever it was that hit the clone was big, strong, and pissed. Naruto was only able to remember a large arm strike the clone in the nose before the clone dispelled.

Naruto swallowed to wet his dry throat as he waited with baited breath for the creature to approach. Eventually the stomping got louder and louder, and soon Naruto could hear deep and low breathing. Naruto almost felt compelled to take a few steps back in fright. The suspension was just tugging at him at this point.

Finally, the creature came into view, and Naruto's eyes went wide from its appearance. The memories he received didn't give the creature enough credit for its size. The creature nearly had to squeeze its way into the hallway due to its width and height. The creature had green skin covering its face, chest and abdomen, whilst the rest of its body was covered in maroon colored fur. It had a medium length silver mane and beard. It had teeth that should belong to a carnivore and a set of horns on its head and shoulders. Sharp claws extended from each of its large fingers. The only article of clothing on the creature was a lair of ripped blue pants. Thighs seemed somewhat thinner and scaley while it had talon-like feet. All in all is was quite the sight to see. Naruto looked into its eyes. The only color in the creature's eyes was white, no pupil or anything. Upon closer inspection, Naruto saw a scar going down its right eye. The scar was jagged and ran only a few inches down, but something about that scar seemed strange to Naruto.

'That scar seems familiar…' Naruto thought, trying to force the memory of where he had seen a scar like that into his mind. His thoughts were interrupted when a large fist went to strike him. Naruto jumped into the air to avoid the attack. Usually a rookie mistake, as this could lead to a hard to avoid follow up attack, but Naruto assumed that due to its size, it wouldn't be able to hit him before he touched the ground again. Unfortunately looks can be deceiving. Naruto hadn't predicted for the beast nearly as fast as it apparently is, because the next thing he knew, he was sent flying down the hallway, bouncing off of the ground a few times before landing on his hands and knees, skidding to a halt.

Naruto winced form the pain. He could only hope that none of his bones were broken. As Naruto stood up, he winced once more on a pain in his shoulder. Naruto ran his opposite hand onto the hurting shoulder and found the problem quickly. His shoulder was dislocated, fantastic.

Muttering a curse, Naruto gripped just below his shoulder and popped the joint back into its regular position, all while trying not to cry out in pain. In a moment, the action was done. He has dislocated his shoulder in the past a couple of times while practicing the Giant Rasengan. There used to be so much recoil that he would damage his arm until he finally reduced its size until it was manageable. Naruto rubbed the tender shoulder while turning his alert gaze down the hallway, where he saw his new foe slowly approaching. Naruto could feel the floor shake with each of his heavy steps.

Naruto created several clones to distract the beast and hopefully find a few weak points in the process. Some clones threw shuriken at the beast, but the beast had thick skin. The shuriken just bounced harmlessly off of the creature. Others opted to use kunai to strike at tendons and normal human weak points, but found similar results. Once there were only two clones remaining, Naruto ran forward, holding his palm to his side while forming a Rasengan. He kept it at its regular size so it wouldn't be overkill. Thick skin or not, the Rasengan was a brutal attack to anyone.

The large beast swatted away one clone with the back of its hand, leaving only one more to distract it. The last remaining clone dug into its pocket and pulled out an explosive tag. It ducked under one swipe and slapped the tag onto the beast's chest, but this allowed an opening on the clone to be presented. The beast grabbed the clone by its leg and swung the clone onto the ground hard, dispelling it instantly.

The tag activated, creating an explosion that rocket the hallway and created a dense smoke cloud. The beast backed away from the smoke that enveloped it so it could see again, but felt an immense pressure on its chest before the beast could even notice it coming.

"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted, pressing the swirling blue ball into the beast's chest. The Rasengan propelled the beast back several yards until it collided with a wall, creating a crater in the wall itself.

As Naruto cautiously approached the dazed and injured creature, he began to question just why the beast was in the Phantom Lord guild hall. He hadn't seen it when he attacked the previous night, and he was positive that if Jose had something like this in his arsenal when Naruto attacked, he wouldn't have hesitated to use it.

"So why is this thing here?" Naruto questioned. Was this creature from one of Phantom Lord's sub divisions? That was a possibility, but not a high one. Most of the sub division mages were on the ground helping in the assault on the Fairy Tail members. The only ones that Naruto knew were aboard the mechanized guild hall were the remaining Element Four members, Jose, maybe Gajeel, and the three Fairy Tail mages who were here for the same reason he was.

"Wait a second…" Naruto thought, then the realization hit. "Elfman?"

The response he got was a loud roar as the beast tried to pull itself out of the wall. Naruto took the time to analyze the facts that led to Elfman and the beast's connection. Elfman could transform his arm into that of a beast's. Never before had he shown the ability to transform his whole body, but maybe the reason was right before him. If he had the ability to transform his whole body, it may be hard to control. There was also the beast's appearance. The blue pants matched the ones that Elfman wore when he entered the building along with Gray. The hair color was also similar, as well as the placement of the scar. The same place where Elfman's scar was.

The beast tore itself out of the wall and immediately charged at Naruto, who rolled under the beast's legs. Naruto rolled back onto his feet and jumped backwards to gain some distance. Now having proof that this creature was definitely Elfman, Naruto didn't want to harm him further.

"Elfman!" Naruto yelled, attempting to get his attention. The beast however, didn't seem to listen. The beast charged once more, throwing swift punch at Naruto. Naruto ducked under its punch and sent a few of his own into the beast's ribs and outstretched arm. His new plan was to hit the muscles until they eventually gave out, rendering the beast's body useless.

The beast growled and tried to punch the orange and black-clad ninja once more, but Naruto was still much faster. Getting inside of the beast's guard again, Naruto sent more punches to its arms and a few to its legs. Naruto rolled back to avoid the beast's counter-attack, but the beast was able to catch Naruto's left arm with its large claw. Naruto was sent spinning into a wall, bouncing off of the wall, and falling to the floor. Naruto didn't allow himself to slow down though, knowing the beast would show no mercy to a downed foe. Naruto rolled on the ground, barely avoiding another powerful punch that left a small crater in the ground. Naruto quickly hopped to his feet and leapt back to gain distance again.

Naruto turned his head to assess the damage to his arm. The sleeve that covered his arm was cut clean through in three places. His arm was bleeding, but the steam coming off of his arms showed that the wounds were healing, thanks to the demon inside of him that he STILL couldn't get a hold of for whatever reason.

Naruto turned his head back to the beast and scowled. He didn't want to harm Elfman, but at this point Naruto didn't have a choice. He didn't have the time to create a clone and have it gather enough natural energy to hold Sage Mode long enough to retrain the beast. With a regretful sigh, Naruto held his uninjured arm out, creating another Rasengan. He let more chakra flow into this Rasengan, allowing it to grow in size and power.

The beast roared and charged at the ninja, as if declaring a challange. Naruto ran to intercept the beast's approach and thrust his Giant Rasengan-holding arm forward. Fist and sphere collided with a loud bang. A small battle of attrition ensued from the two forces.

"Giant Rasengan!" Naruto shouted, pushing the attack further forwards. Naruto was actually surprised at just how long the beast was able to hold the Giant Rasegnan back until its arm finally gave out, allowing the attack to small into its entire body. This time the beast was thrown right off of its feet and took off like a rocket back down the hallway. Naruto didn't waste time in pursuing his friend/foe, wanting to see if he would need to do more damage. It appeared that more damage wouldn't be necessary. The beast was sprawled out on the ground, its body covered in burns from the friction of the attack. It was still awake, which surprised Naruto. This form of Elfman's was more durable than he thought. Naruto created four clones, one to grab an arm or a leg so they could hold the beast down. Naruto leaned down and grabbed the beast's head and forced it to face him.

"Elfman! Wake the hell up! If you're such a man, you won't let this thing control you! What would your friends at Fairy Tail think if they saw you acting like a monster! You need to accept your power, not fight against it! You need to show the beast that you're the one in control!" Naruto demanded, staring straight into the beast's white eyes.

Naruto was speaking from experience in a way. When he was younger, he thought he had to force out Kurama's influence. As it turns out, Naruto just had to gain control of his power. He had to fight Kurama just to get control of his power. After finding a common enemy in Madara, Naruto and Kurama set their differences aside and became friends in way. Naruto assumed that Elfman's circumstance is similar. From what he heard, Elfman absorbed beasts, gaining their arms. It made sense if he tried to absorb a beast and control its entire body proved to be too much as opposed to just absorbing it's arm. The beast could still be conscious inside of him, influencing him to act this way. If so, then Elfman needed to show the beast that he was the alpha.

It seemed that Naruto's words had their desired effect, because the next thing he knew the beast was getting smaller. Naruto thought that it would revert back to Elfman's original form, but instead it just shrunk a bit. Naruto also noticed that the scar under the beast's right eye shaped itself to match the one Elfman had under his eye. Now it looked black and stitched up. Naruto's clones released their holds on the beast and dispelled.

Elfman blinked a few times, bringing his hand up to his eyes. His eyes widened when he didn't see his hand, but instead saw a large, furry hand, one that he recognized very well. It was the same one that killed his little sister after all. In an instant he remembered what had happened before waking up.

Naruto could see tears start to form In Elfman's beast eyes. Concerned for Elfman, Naruto asked the standard question, "Hey Elfman, you okay?"

Elfman's head snapped over to the voice that was oddly familiar. He saw Naruto less than a foot away from him. Elfman quickly looked away, seeing the state Naruto was in made him quickly figure out what happened and why Naruto was here.

"I lost control again," Elfman muttered in a deep voice. The tone in the voice didn't fit the body that it projected from, "I swore I'd never use this form again, and look what happened. I'm so sorry Naruto." Elfman said, bringing his hands to his face and letting out a pained sob.

It tugged at Naruto's heart to see Elfman like this. Now knowing that there was more to this beast dilemma showed that Elfman really didn't want to even think about his form ever again. From the short time he had ever been around Elfman, he seemed prideful and confident. So unlike what he was like at the moment. Naruto couldn't stand to see such a man in this state.

"You may have lost control, but I'm fine and you're in control now, right? Just release that form and we can talk about this." Naruto asked gently, wanting to place a comforting hand on Elfman, but didn't really know what to do exactly. He was decent when it came to cheering up women, but when it came to men, especially men twice his size he just didn't know what to do.

Elfman didn't respond, but did as requested. Elfman's beast body glowed, and in a flash Elfman was back in his original body. Slowly, Elfman removed his hands from his face and sat upright. His expression was a mixture of shame and sadness. His body retained some of the burns from Naruto's attack, but he seemed to be ignoring the pain at the moment. He didn't even care that he was able to revert back to his human form at the moment. His mind was still a mess of emotions.

"So," Naruto awkwardly began. He didn't know how to tackle this. He didn't want to trigger something in Elfman, but he also had a job to do and needed to make sure Elfman was okay.

"Naruto," Elfman said, gaining the blonde's attention, "I… heard what you said a moment ago. You seem to know a bit about having something inside of you that is hard to control. Is this from experience?" Elfman asked slowly.

Naruto was unsure of where Elfman was going with this, but responded anyways, "Yes, I was in a similar situation in the past." Naruto said, bringing a hand to his stomach where Kurama had been sealed. He missed feeling the warmth of power that usually resided from his stomach. Was Kurama sealed even tighter somehow? There were just too many missing pieces for him to figure this out.

"I see," Elfman said quietly. Elfman wiped his eyes to force back the unshed tears, "Then I'd say we men share a similar pain in a way. I won't pry about yours if you don't about mine. We have a job to do anyways." Elfman said solemnly, slowly rising until he was standing on his bare feet. Elfman held back a wince from the burns he didn't notice he had until now.

Naruto knew that Elfman was still upset about his rampage and transformation, but Naruto honestly didn't know how to handle this. He barely knew Elfman, so he wasn't sure how far this beast thing went. He hoped that someone back at Fairy Tail that knew him enough would be able to help him once this whole ordeal was over.

"Yeah, you're right. So did you find any of the remaining Element Four members?" Naruto asked, bringing them both back to the task at hand.

Naruto didn't miss how Elfman stiffened at this question.

"Yeah," Elfman growled out, "It was the guy in the brown suit. Matchstick Sol or whatever. I couldn't care less about that unmanly bastard." Elfman said, his eyes slowly filling with rage. He remembered beating the living crap out of Sol in his beast form before it all went blank. He honestly didn't know if Sol was even alive at the moment, but he didn't care. Sol deserves it either way.

Naruto's eyes widened in realization, then pity, "He screwed with your mind, didn't he?"

Elfman turned to Naruto, remembering how he had warned them of Sol's powers. Naruto had put great emphasis on what Sol could really do. At the time, Elfman just assumed that Naruto gathered this information from his travels or something, but hearing the tone in Naruto's voice, he couldn't help but ask, "He did the same thing to you before?"

Naruto let out a mirthless chuckle, "Yup, nearly killed him for it." Naruto said, turning to face down the hallway, "I won't ask if you don't." He said, knowingly rephrasing what Elfman had said, leaving no room for discussion.

And with that, Naruto started walking. He wasn't worried about Leaving Elfman behind. Naruto figured that Elfman would consider himself still able to fight, and was proven correct when he heard rushed footsteps approach him until they were just behind him.

"Let's finish this then. I'm guessing you beat Sol, so that only leaves Aria. If we defeat him, then we stop the Abyss Break." Naruto said firmly, his voice carrying authority he hoped to use when he became Hokage, but that dream seemed so distant at the moment. He had a job to do here, only then would he worry about getting home once he had more time.

**Okay, so in the show Mirajane tried to trick Jose by transforming into Lucy. But in this Lucy is already captured, so Mirajane doesn't have a reason to draw attention to herself. So Jose doesn't capture her, which means that Elfman doesn't have her to help him regain his control, leaving him to rampage. I didn't know how dialogue between these two should have gone, but I hope it's acceptable.**


	12. Resolve

**I got more positive reviews than I thought. I honestly didn't like the previous chapter. Kind of feeling the same with this, but also felt like this chapter couldn't have ended any better either.**

**MineEngineer:I said I might give him a second affinity. He's already going to be OP as hell as the story progresses, and if I do the ying/yang thing he'll basically be god. But I love the support and hope to see more of it in the future.**

**First Guy: I'm happy you understand. I'm trying to make as many things I can secret about this story until they present themselves, and I'll consider Erza and Lucy, but no promises.**

**Nine-tailed triforce: Perhaps ;)**

Naruto honestly couldn't recall a time where he felt as awkward and uncomfortable than he did right now.

Elfman had finally calmed down enough for them to travel at a somewhat decent pace around the inside of the seemingly never-ending Phantom Lord guild building. Naruto wanted to go at his full speed, but he didn't want to leave an injured Elfman behind. Elfman was even slower than usual because of the remaining burns that he received while in his full beast take-over. Naruto felt bad whenever he saw Elfman wince from the pain he was feeling, but there was nothing he could have done to prevent it.

As the masculine duo made their way through the corridors, no words were spoken. Naruto didn't feel that he needed to start a conversation at the moment, considering the circumstances, and Elfman thought that Naruto was still upset about his questioning about what Sol had done to Naruto. What Elfman didn't know is that Naruto was already over it. When Naruto was focused on a mission, he was easily able to push his own emotions aside for the sake of others, which in this case, was the entirety of Fairy Tail.

"So…" Elfman began, finally unable to withstand the silence he was so unaccustomed to, thanks to being around Fairy Tail, "I'm assuming it's safe to say that you were able to defeat one of the other remaining Element Four mages?" Elfman asked, wincing once more from the burns.

Naruto nodded, well so much for the silence, "Well, I guess I technically defeated one of them. I didn't exactly defeat them." Naruto said, keeping his eyes straight ahead.

"What do you mean technically? It's unmanly to not finish a fight." Elfman stated with his chest puffed out, which looked odd due to his slow jogging pace. Naruto would have actually laughed if the situation wasn't so dire at the moment.

For the first time, Naruto turned his eyes to look at Elfman's hulking form, "I convinced them to leave Phantom Lord, which removed their magic connection to the Acute Break or whatever. Also you guys might be getting some new members soon." Naruto said vaguely, but it was clearly obvious.

"Wait, you're saying that the Element Four member you fought is going to join Fairy Tail? How can you trust them so easily? And how can you make a decision for someone to join a guild that you aren't even a part of?" Elfman questioned. He was already a bit annoyed that Naruto was even here to fight Fairy Tail's battles, despite the fact that if he weren't here the Elfman would still be rampaging, but to start trying to get others to join when he himself still wasn't an official member was absurd.

"Because she deserves a second chance. Everyone does." Naruto stated firmly, his gaze holding Elfman's own. The duo looked away from each other for a brief moment in order to take a right turn instead of slamming right into a wall. Once their eyes were locked again, Elfman asked another question.

"Wait, you said new members. Who are the other ones?" Elfman asked.

Naruto was going to tell Elfman that he would let him know later, but a huge gust of wind cut him off.

Naruto and Elfman were forced to shield their eyes form the strong wind pushing past them. Even Naruto was surprised by the sheer amount of force that was being generated by the wind itself.

"What the hell is this?!" Elfman yelled over the sound of the wind in his ears, trying his best not to get blown away.

Naruto came up with a conclusion quite easily, "It must be Aria! He's probably fighting your guild members! We have to find where they're fighting!" Naruto yelled, taking off into a sprint, leaving Elfman lagging behind. Naruto hoped that Elfman understood that this was urgent. He was sure Elfman would catch up eventually.

As he got closer to the source, he had to use more chakra in his feet just to stay on the ground. After half a minute of running, Naruto saw two large doors at the end of a hallway that were open. Deciding that those doors led to Aria, Naruto picked up his pace.

Suddenly the resisting wind force died out, causing Naruto to fall. He outstretched his arms and placed them on the ground, performing a handstand which led to him continuing his momentum and landing back onto his feet. He didn't bother questioning the sudden lack of wind, which could have that the fight was over. He hoped that whoever was fighting Aria managed to beat him. Wasting no time Naruto rushed into the room, kunai in hand, ready to take on the wind user.

Naruto entered the room and quickly scanned the perimeter. The room seemed like the inside of a cathedral, with decorative windows and wide stairs that lead to an alter on the opposite side of the room. Much of the walls and floor were cracked, signifying a large battle took place. Much to his surprise, Aria was on the ground, beaten. On the other side of the room was a beaten up Gray, who was leaning on a pillar for support, and a worn out Erza, who was wearing her Heavens Wheel armor. Naruto was shocked to see her in the room, much less battle ready.

'How come none of my clones saw her leave the guild? She shouldn't be here!' Naruto thought, going through any recent memories to see if any of his clones somehow missed her leaving the building. He was perplexed as to how all of his clones managed to not see a women with such noticeable features leave their sight. He frowned as this was also an insult to his own vision.

Naruto refocused when he saw Erza's armor vanish, replaced by her white blouse and blue skirt. Naruto noticed how her eyes fluttered, indicating that she was about to collapse. Knowing Gray looked too injured and drained to catch her, Naruto ran in a burst of speed so he could catch the exhausted girl. Naruto slid on the ground with his arms outstretched, just barely making it in time to stop the red haired woman from taking a painful fall to the ground.

"Hey, are you guys alright?" Naruto asked, running his eyes up and down Erza's body to try and find any obvious injuries. Gray quickly limped over and kneeled down next to Erza and Naruto, wide eyed at his sudden appearance.

"How did you find us?" Gray asked, draping his arm over his bandaged stomach. How Naruto didn't notice the bandages the first time he saw Gray earlier only proved that his eyesight needed work.

"The huge gusts of wind kinda pointed me in this direction. Elfman isn't too far behind." Naruto said. As if on cue, Elfman came stumbling in, trying to mask the fact that he was breathing heavily. When he saw the shape that Erza and Gray were in, he didn't hesitate to jog over to them and crouch down so he was at an even level with them.

Suddenly the entire room began to shake. Naruto felt like his stomach was going into his chest. Judging from this feeling, he assumed that the building was going down. The room felt like someone had cut the cords on an elevator, plummeting straight down for a few long seconds. Then the room shook one final time before everything settled once more.

Naruto decided to do a quick headcount. He instantly figured out who was missing, "Do you know where Natsu is?"

Naruto repeatedly shifted his gaze from Gray to Erza, waiting for an answer. Thankfully, Gray had one.

"He was about to fight this guy," Gray gestured over to the incapacitated man, "But that was when I got in here. I told him to go find Lucy, since has the nose to track her down. We argued a bit, but he eventually ran off. So wherever Lucy is, Natsu should be there too." Gray finished, leaning back so he was sitting.

Naruto then looked down at Erza with a scolding look, "And why are you here? You took a hit from a freaking cannon. You shouldn't even be moving right now." Naruto said, glaring at the girl in his arms.

Surprisingly, and much to Naruto's hidden amusement, she returned the glare in full, "Don't tell me what I should and shouldn't be doing. I will fight for my friends no matter what condition I'm in." She exclaimed, forcing herself out of his arms and leaned against a nearby pillar.

"Don't be so hard on her Naruto. As much as I hate to admit it I was about to lose to that guy." Gray said bitterly. He wanted to blame his near loss solely on his bandaged injuries, but he knew he would have been lying to himself.

All at once, everyone sans Naruto went wide eyed and stiff. Naruto only felt a slight chill go down his spine, but apparently everyone else wasn't as accustomed to the feeling of pure killing intent as he was. Which made sense, seeing as how he was recently in a war.

"What the…" Gray asked, short of breath. Elfman looked around the room in a panic, arms raised in defense.

"I sense death." Erza muttered, staring at the floor. Naruto stood up and formed a perimeter around Erza with a shaky Elfman at his right and a wobbly Gray at his left. This was not an ideal group of people for this fight. They may be decent fighters, but they were clearly not used to dealing with such an imposing force like Naruto was.

A dark mist began to flood the room slowly. Not enough to obstruct their vision, but enough to solidify the feeling of fear into the hearts of the mages. Naruto stayed alert, kunai in his right hand and his left hand open, ready to make a Rasengan.

"I'm super manly and this gives me chills." Elfman whispered to himself, unconsciously shifting closer to Naruto.

Naruto's acute hearing picked up the sound of clapping. It was slow and rhythmic, seemingly perfect for the already dark setting laid out before them.

"Bravo, you're all quite keen. Very impressive, Fairy Tail wizards." All eyes snapped over to the sound of the amused voice. Naruto growled at his familiarity of the voice. Turning his eyes to meet Jose's form, he instantly noticed Jose's change of attire.

The first noticeable thing was the lack of stupid hat that usually was worn atop his head. Now his slick hair was seen tied up in the back in a small ponytail. His cloak was also gone, revealing his combat uniform. A blue, long sleeved collared shirt with yellow trim that looked as though a person of high military status should be wearing it. On his right shoulder was a black strap that kept the front of the shirt together while his left shoulder was covered in a red and yellow cape that ran down to his legs. His legs were covered by a military skirt that matched his shirt, wrapped around his waist by a black belt. Finally he was wearing black boots that were separated from the pants by a thick metal band.

"I knew this would be fun, but never in my wildest dreams would I think it would be this entertaining. You annihilated the Jupiter Cannon, disposed of my elite Element Four, and you even managed to bring my magic giant to its knees." Jose said with his head tilted and a sickeningly wide smile. His eyes shone with manic amusement.

"Master Jose!" Erza exclaimed, glaring at Jose.

"This creep!" Elfman said, followed by Gray, "He's Phantom's master?!" both said with utter disbelief.

"Thank you," Jose began, taking great pride in instilling fear onto the weakened mages, "You've been so kind as to entertain me, I simply must return the favor."

Gray and Elfman got closer to Naruto, almost to the point that they were touching elbow to elbow. Naruto was impressed when he saw the determined looks on their faces.

"Now allow me to return the favor." Jose said, raising his hand up in preparation.

Gray pounded his right hand into his open left palm, "Ice Make: Saucer." He muttered, a chilling mist enveloping his body.

Elfman raised his right arm into the air, "Beast Arm: Iron Bull!" He roared, his arm changing into a metallic and muscular replacement, and together they leapt into the air. Naruto hadn't expected their surprise advance. He almost face palmed at the sheer stupidity of the two. The words that Erza yelled next basically summed out what Naruto wanted to say, but with much less insults.

"No, don't do it!" Erza cried out, attempting to get up, but fell back down in pain. Naruto had already made clones in order to support the idiotic mages, but it was too late. Jose was quicker on the draw.

"How absurd!" Jose mocked, holding out one hand, producing a large and dark-purple magic circle. From the magic circle came several purple ghost-like apparitions like a barrage of arrows. Neither Elfman nor Gray could have been ready for such a quick and powerful attack. Multiple ghosts ran through their bodies like bullets, electing painful grunts from the two. As quickly as they attacked, they fell back to the earth.

As Naruto's clones got close to Jose, the guild master swung his arm horizontally, creating a massive explosion that spread to nearly the entire room, dispelling each clone and hitting Elfman and Gray once more. Naruto covered his eyes from the invading debris, which unfortunately distracted him enough for Erza to ran past him with a sword drawn.

Jose smirked widely and shoved his palm outward, creating a purple vortex. Erza ran through the low accuracy attack and leapt into the air, transforming into her Black Wing armor. She swung her sword downwards, but Jose easily sidestepped the slow attack. Erza followed up with a two handed swing, but Jose ducked the attack and grabbed her wrist before she could retract her arms.

With a wicked grin, Jose showed his impressive physical strength by tossing Erza forward. She recovered just before she nearly slammed into a large piece of debris and flipped backwards. Naruto took this as his opening to attack, He already had a plan of attack in mind, and hoped that Jose was too distracted with Erza to see what he was doing, hoping to end the fight quickly.

"Fascinating, you took a shot from Jupiter at full force, did you not? And yet you're still-," Jose cut his sentence short when he heard a strange noise coming from his right. He turned his head and his eyes widened when he saw merciless blue eyes staring back at him, not even two feet away. The features the blonde showed were the same as the person Gajeel had described. So this was the person that so easily thrashed Gajeel? Interesting.

"Rasengan!" Naruto yelled, thrusting his left hand forward, but like Jose did to Erza, Jose grabbed Naruto's wrist. Things played out differently though, because Naruto saw this coming and readied a counter.

The blonde in Jose's grasp grinned and stabbed itself with a kunai, disappearing in a burst of smoke. Out of reaction, Jose tried to wave the smoke away while coughing as it filled his lungs. He heard the same sound that the blue sphere that the clone created come from his left side. Quickly, Jose shot his hand towards the direction of the noise, creating another dark vortex.

Once the smoke cleared, Jose smirked widely when he saw another blonde boy fall to the ground, but his feeling of victory vanished when that same boy dispelled along with the other one.

"What kind of game are you playing, boy!" Jose yelled, scanning the room while keeping a close eye on Erza, who looked like she was about to strike any moment now.

"The kind where you lose!" Jose heard from directly above him. Instead of turning to look up like most gullible people, he jumped back just in time for Naruto to come crashing down where he had originally been standing, slamming the vacant space with another Rasengan. Jose watched with wide eyes as a medium sized crater was formed from such a seemingly small attack.

The blonde slowly stood upright and pivoted his body to face Jose, his eyes burned with anger.

Naruto watched in slight surprise when Jose started cackling madly, directing his face towards the ceiling, as if he wanted the heavens to hear his insanity.

"Titania, the one who took a shot from the Jupiter Cannon and came into my guild with the intent to fight, and you, a boy of mystery, the only eye witness before now was from one of my best mages. He came back to my guild completely beaten. I've never seen him in such a miserable state. Killing you both will give me great pleasure!" Jose hollered, looking hungrily between the two.

Naruto was trying his best to focus on any sudden attacks from Jose, but he was being hit with multiple memories at once. His anger rose with each individual memory he received. A large portion of the shades fused together to mage one large shade ball, which was now destroying the Fairy Tail guild hall. Several clones tried to stop it, but they didn't have enough chakra to destroy it. There were only a few of his clones left standing, and they were all now focused onto the large amount of shades that were still attacking. Makarov had finally joined the fight, and it looked like he was trying to get to the Phantom Lord giant, but several shades focused on him, seeing him as a high priority threat. He also saw a large explosion erupt from the head of the giant, and Gajeel flying out of said head and falling to a lower level of the giant. The memory of the eruption turned into Naruto's present reality as the entire room started to crumble from the tremors.

"My, what an unruly dragon you have." Jose said with amusement, without a care in the world.

Erza held her sword with a firm grip, breathing heavily. It seems that her lack of magic was finally getting to her once more. "He may be unruly, but he's also an extremely powerful wizard. In fact, I'd say he's just as strong as I am, if not stronger." Erza declared firmly, leveling her sword in the direction of Jose.

"There's no need to be so modest Titania Erza. Your magic is just as spectacular as Salamanders." Jose praised. He then directed his gaze at Naruto, who scowled at the sudden attention, "And you. I can tell that you hold more power than what you've shown me. So how about you give me a proper demonstration of all that wasted potential!" Jose yelled with a large grin.

Naruto turned to Erza, "Erza, I don't care about your pride as a Fairy Tail wizard right now. You need to get Gray and Elfman out of here. You're in no shape to fight this asshole and your guild needs you to live. If you continue to fight him as you are right now, you will lose." Naruto said, meeting her glare with force.

Erza wanted to yell in retaliation against Naruto, but she stopped herself when she felt her knees shake and her arms lower. Erza felt miserable, and it made it worse now that others have seen her in such a state. While she didn't want to leave the fight to someone who wasn't even an official member, but at this point her hands were tied.

"Fine," Erza said finally, "Just promise me that you'll get payback for what he's done." Erza said, waiting for Naruto's answer.

"I'll pay in back tenfold." Naruto stated, cracking his knuckles and resting his glare back onto Jose.

Jose saw how Erza moved towards the other two downed mages and thrust his hand in her direction. "Don't leave yourself so wide open Titania!" Jose yelled, creating a magic circle.

Before the attack could leave its circle, Jose felt pain in his outstretched wrist. His hand was suddenly in the air thanks to a kick from Naruto, who threw a punch at Jose. Jose was too surprised by his speedy attack that he couldn't dodge the straight blow to his chest, and so was sent backwards.

"You should heed you own advice, old man." Naruto said darkly, his blue eyes burning holds into Jose's own. Jose rubbed his chest, grimacing from the pain. Naruto watched as Erza strung both of the men on her shoulders and slowly made their way out the door. Now Naruto could really cut loose.

Unknown to Naruto, Erza turned to look back only once, worry evident in her eyes.

'You'd better make it out of here alive. You aren't dying for a matter that shouldn't even concern you.' Erza thought, turning back to her exit and finally leaving Naruto and Jose to fight.

"You sure pack a punch, brat." Jose said, raising a fist in Naruto's direction. "It's such a shame that you've sided with Makarov. There's only one way to rectify that mistake." Jose finished, flicking a finger in Naruto's direction.

Before he even knew it, Naruto was sent flying backwards. Jose must have been holding back when he had fought him the previous night, but then again, so was he.

Naruto righted himself in midair and rolled just in time to dodge several small, condensed spheres of dark magic. Naruto reached into his pocket and grabbed three shuriken, which he threw at Jose with expert precision.

Jose shot the kunai out of the air with magic produced from his outstretched finger. This gave Naruto enough time to close the distance between the two and began to engage Jose with taijutsu.

Jose proved to be well versed in hand to hand combat, as he redirected each of Naruto's punches and kicks with ease. This annoyed Naruto, so he started picking up his attack speed. Finally, he was about to land a solid blow of Jose, but suddenly he disappeared. Naruto stood straight and turned his head slightly to look at Jose, who was now about ten feet away with his arms behind his back.

"For as long as I can remember Phantom Lord has been on top. We had the best spells, support, and most mages. But recently Fairy Tail has taken some of the fame from us. The names Laxus, Erza, and Mystogan became widely known, and stories of Salamander began to spread like wildfire across the land. And then there's you. Fairy Tail's new powerhouse. Now Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail are considered equals, the top two guilds representing the kingdom of Fiore. The mere thought disgusts me. I refuse to be acquainted to such a feeble guild!" Jose yelled with wide, furious eyes staring right at Naruto, who didn't even flinch under his harsh gaze.

Naruto slowly turned to face Jose, his eyes turned from angry to ice cold, actually sending a shiver down Jose's spine. "So let me get this straight," Naruto began slowly, "You are ruining people's lives because you're getting all nervous that you aren't top dog anymore?" Naruto asked, his tone leaving no killing intent out.

Despite the chills he was feeling, Jose smirked, "Well when you put it like that it makes us sound like the feeble ones. I'm only doing this for the sake of my guild. Isn't that what you fairies do?" Jose asked innocently, holding an arm out to Naruto, ready to attack.

Naruto slowly brought his hands up until his hands were clasped together. "You want to see something scary?" Naruto asked, not caring if he said no.

Jose welcomed the threat, "As if anything you do will scare me boy!" Jose yelled, sending a vortex of darkness at Naruto. He didn't even notice the flourish of hand seals that Naruto signed before he evaded the attack. Jose watched as his attack landed on the location where Naruto was, but he knew that Naruto was fast enough to evade the attack. So he scanned the room, waiting for Naruto to pop out.

As Jose slowly looked around the room in search of the orange clad ninja, a dense fog began to fill the room. Jose was so focused he didn't even realize the fog had appeared until he couldn't see five feet in front of him.

"What in the world…" Jose muttered to himself, but stumbled when he was struck in the back by a powerful blow. Jose retaliated by shooting several ghostly projectiles in the direction from where he was struck. Another blow hit him from the side, and then another. Jose roared in frustration and fired a barrage of apparitions in every direction possible, hoping to get a lucky shot. Eventually, Jose began to tire, leaving him open for more crippling moves. Jose cried out in pain as he felt something sharp penetrate his right shoulder, which was then felt on his left. Jose tried to raise his arms up to attack, but found that he couldn't. He couldn't even feel anything past his shoulder. His nerves had been severed.

"Are you scared yet?" A voice asked from the fog, but it wasn't Naruto's. Jose did know the voice though, and his eyes widened in realization. He had just heard the same voice only a few hours ago.

"Y-you!" Jose shouted furiously. He wanted to fire more attacks at the fog just to try and shut the voice up, but he couldn't even use his arms. His mind began to race, he started to run in a random direction, hoping to find some sort of exit. His pitiful efforts were all in vain.

Jose felt a tap on his shoulder, and whipped his entire body around to meet the one who touched him. He couldn't even move when a pair of arms locked around his shoulders, locking him in place. Jose tried to attack the person that was holding him, but his arms just hung uselessly to his sides. As he continued to helplessly struggle, he turned his head to his front and his eyes widened in fright.

It was the swordsman from the night before. His cold eyes burrowed into Jose's, holding him in place even more so than the person behind him was. The massive sword was lifted off of the swordsman's shoulder and was pulled back, aimed in line with Jose's neck. It was at that moment that Jose felt what he hadn't felt in a long time, fear.

"Please…" Jose began to beg as he began to thrash his body in a futile attempt to escape once more, "Please don't kill me! Have mercy!"

The swordsman showed no sign of being merciful. Ignoring the man's plea, the swordsman growled at Jose, "As if you even deserve a shred of mercy after what you've done to these people!" The transformed Naruto yelled, for once having the resolve to end the life of another. This man has caused pain and humiliation for people who didn't even deserve it, all because of something so petty. Naruto could honestly say that even though he won't enjoy his first kill, he's glad Jose well no longer torment others anymore.

It was on that day within the broken Phantom Lord giant, enveloped in fog, the first evil soul left the world of Earthland, directed by the end of a mighty blood-stained blade. It was on that day that the Shinigami finally received the first soul he had been waiting for.

**FIRST BLOOD. Well what do you guys think? Good, Bad? Let me know, and I;m really excited for the future arcs.**


	13. The End of Phantom

**I'm going to say right now that this chapter was a pain right in my ass to write. It was just so dreadfully boring to write this. But after several weeks, I'm happy to say that it's finally done. Also finally reached over one hundred reviews, so thanks guys, really I appreciate it.**

**MineEngineer: I feel like it's more of a comfort zone kind of thing. It won't happen much after I think.**

**Fairy Tail no Kyubi: Sorry to disappoint, but this Naruto is mostly the same one, just a bit darker considering he just technically came out of a war. I honestly don't like Naruto born in Earthland fics. That might as well make him an OC in some cases.**

**JensenDaniels32: I'm honestly not sure if I want to make Naruto a Wizard Saint. I've got to come up with what I'm doing next. I've got a general idea, but that's it.**

**Guest: Don't worry, the Executioner's Blade won't make frequent appearances. **

**DannyPhantom619: You actually gave me a good idea, thanks!**

Naruto didn't shed a tear of regret, nor did he cheer out in triumph over his first kill. He just stared blankly at the now decapitated corpse of Jose.

It was a clean cut, thanks to the impressive sharpness of the Executioner's Blade. It really lived up to its name. Blood still slowly flowed out of the severed veins of Jose's neck, creating an ever expanding puddle of red. This was truly an image he'd never be rid of. It was a gruesome first kill, but Naruto was thankful it was fast and done with.

Jose's wide, lifeless eyes stared back at him, as if haunting him from the grave, but Naruto knew that wasn't true. Jose wasn't going to come back to haunt him and as far as he knew, there was no Reanimation Jutsu in this world that could be used to bring him back, at least he hoped. He was new to this world after all. Jose was officially gone from this world. A true phantom trapped in the afterlife.

After what seemed like an eternity, Naruto tore his eyes away from the corpse. Naruto decided to distract himself by going through the collection of memories he had gathered from his clones. Once Jose had died, his shades disappeared, finally giving the Fairy Tail wizards a well needed and deserved break. The amount injured was painful to look at, but thankfully nobody died, at least on Fairy Tail's end. Once the battle was over, Naruto's clones stuck around to help anyone who needed it until Makarov told them that he wanted to speak to the original at his earliest convenience. It's a good thing Naruto needed to speak with Makarov as well for multiple reasons.

There was another memory, one fairly recent. It was what the clone that was restraining Jose saw. The clone was staring right at the transformed Naruto when he swung the blade to kill Jose. Naruto was actually shocked when he noticed the indescribable look in his own eyes. Well technically they were Zabuza's, but the feeling behind them was Naruto's.

Naruto felt sick just thinking about that look. That look held so much malice and vengeance that he thought he was looking at Sasuke for a second. It was already bad enough that he had killed a person, but to watch yourself kill a person added a whole new level to the uncomfortable feeling he had about his first kill.

He didn't regret it. He couldn't bring himself to regret killing Jose. Jose was the one who ordered Gajeel to injure and practically brand the three Fairy Tail mages, and the one who led the surprise attack on Fairy Tail. Jose definitely had what was coming to him.

Naruto looked back at his sword, gazing at the blood stained steel absentmindedly. His first kill, used with a sword that has probably seen and caused more deaths than he could possibly imagine. The Executioner's Blade… he still wondered how he came in possession of the large sword. His last encounter with Zabuza was when he blamed the swordsman for being heartless at the now named Great Naruto Bridge. Zabuza had probably been reanimated, but he hadn't seen him on the battlefield. There was still that one memory though, where he received the sword and Hidden Mist Jutsu. When had that happened, and how could he use a water based technique used by Hidden Mist ninja?

Naruto shook his head to rid himself of the thoughts. He was stalling by just standing inside of the slowly crumbling Phantom Lord guild building. He didn't want to see all of the expectant faces of the Fairy Tail mages. There was no doubt in his mind that someone told the lot of them that he was fighting Jose, most likely Erza. That was sure to draw some attention. He honestly just wanted to run the opposite direction of the Fairy Tail guild, but he couldn't for multiple reasons.

First, there was the fact that they took him in without question and showed him kindness. He was a sucker for that sort of thing. Within the first day, multiple Fairy Tail wizards had spoken to him as if he was an old friend. It was so surreal to him, and he knew that he enjoyed it, even if he didn't want to admit it. He didn't want to upset them with the fact that he had killed a man, even though the man was an enemy. He had the feeling that most, if not all of the Fairy Tail mages have never killed another intentionally.

Second, there was Juvia, who was still waiting in the woods for him. He supposed he could take her with her, but what good would that do? He was trying to get back to his own home, and if he found out how to return to it, he would be leaving Juvia to fend for herself. He couldn't just rob her of an opportunity to start over with a new, better guild. He also promised that he would join the guild along with her, and he never went back on his word.

Third, there was Makarov, probably his best bet for returning to his home. Makarov had experience and intelligence, and Naruto was foreign in this land. He needed guidance on this land's rules before he went off on his own. He didn't know if he even committed any illegal acts by killing Jose yet.

"Dammit, this is just a big mess." Naruto mumbled, digging into his pouch and pulling two scrolls. One for his bloodstained blade and one for the dead body sprawled out on the ground.

He quickly got to work with the sealings. The sword was easy, since it had already been done. With one exclamation of "Seal!" the sword was sucked up into the parchment, waiting to be drawn once more to spill more blood. He hoped he wouldn't need to do that anytime soon, sword or no sword.

The body took a bit longer. Naruto was only proficient at sealing weapons and small items, as most ninja are. He had never had to seal something like this before, and never thought he would have. But this was a new world, with a new world will come new experiences. He hoped that after this day, those experiences would be more pleasant.

Naruto was thankful that all of his sealing scrolls were pre-written, all he had to do was channel the chakra. Naruto channeled his chakra into the unrolled scroll and connected his other hand with the head of Jose. He'd do the body next, not that the order mattered. The feeling of flesh under his palm made him involuntarily shiver.

Naruto was forced to look and place a hand on the head of Jose so he could connect his chakra with Jose's head and the scroll. The direct eye contact with the dead eyes of Jose made Naruto want to vomit. He'd seen people die, but never had been directly responsible for the death of another. It was just disgusting to stare at the corpse of a man you had killed, even if they deserved it.

After several long minutes, the head vanished with a puff of smoke and the scroll now had a symbol inscribed in the center. Naruto let out a relieved breath before reluctantly turning to the decapitated body. Unrolling another empty scroll, Naruto placed one palm on the corpse's chest and rested his remaining hand on the scroll.

The process of sealing the body was surprisingly faster, despite it having more mass than the head. Perhaps it was because he just wasn't used to sealing any sort of body part, making the second sealing easier than the first. Whatever the reason was, he was thankful he didn't have to stay in this crumbling room any longer. He gathered his scrolls and made his way to the nearest exit, but remembered how much of a maze the guild building was.

Having little patience and a slight feeling of claustrophobia, Naruto created a Rasengan and slammed it into the nearest wall, relishing in the feeling of fresh air rush into the room as he connected the room with the outside world. Naruto leapt out of the destroyed guild giant and landed on the water, letting chakra flow naturally to his feet to remain afloat.

"Better get this over with." Naruto muttered, slowly beginning his walk back to the Fairies. He couldn't force himself to enter a relaxed walking form. Instead he was rigid and tense, he would surely be a dead giveaway if he kept it up.

Within a few minutes of walking, Naruto began to loosen up. His arms were still at his sides, but they swayed instead of mechanically moved like before. Naruto made it to the base of the cliff that Fairy Tail rested on. Continuing his walk as if the sudden slope weren't even there, Naruto began to walk straight up until he finally reached the edge. Placing his right hand on the edge of the cliff, Naruto cut the flow of chakra in his feet while simultaneously allowing his hand to have some of his chakra to keep him from falling back down. With one great heave, Naruto vaulted over the edge and landed on his feet, dusting himself off.

His sudden appearance surprised some of the mages, and when the few stubborn remaining clones saw him, they finally dispelled, giving Naruto another headache. Forcing himself not to show the sudden head pain, he forced a fake smile as several of the mostly uninjured guild members immediately smiled in relief and joy upon seeing their new comrade was alright.

Naruto looked for the people who had accompanied him into the Phantom Lord guild hall. He spotted Elfman and Gray standing close by, smiling at him. They didn't look too bad, given the state he saw them in earlier. Erza was also standing near them, now wearing her standard knight-like armor, hiding most of her injuries. She looked more concerned than anything else, but relieved nonetheless. There was also Lucy, who he hadn't had a chance to talk to, but knew was a hostage during this whole invasion. She looked okay, but she seemed conflicted. Naruto could almost see tears starting to form in her brown eyes. If this wasn't fixed later, he might try and cheer her up some way. Even though she was practically a stranger, he hated seeing someone cry.

"Naruto!" An excited voice hollered. Naruto turned his head and saw a smiling Natsu quickly limping towards him. Naruto noticed that Natsu had several small cuts and bruises and was missing his vest, but looked alright otherwise.

"Yo," Naruto called out to the approaching Dragon Slayer, lifting his hand to wave at Natsu. Naruto actually felt a bit of a real smile try and force its way through the fake one at seeing the Dragon Slayer, but the fake one still overpowered it.

"Well, did you beat Jose?!" Natsu questioned, already knowing the answer, but wanting to hear it from Naruto himself. Natsu was bouncing on his heels, despite his numerous injuries that were evident due to his lack of vest.

Naruto sent Natsu a smile, but it most certainly didn't reach his eyes. This did not go unnoticed by the more experienced members of the guild. These members being Mirajane, Erza, and Makarov. "Sure did!" Naruto replied with fake cheer, pointing his thumb to his chest in a show of pride.

This made Natsu's excited grin grow even larger, "I wish I had a crack at him, but I want details! That fight must've been awesome!" Natsu said, almost literally vibrating in Naruto's opinion. Some of the other guild members began to agree with Natsu, also wanting to hear of Jose's downfall. Naruto had the same experience when he had defeated Pain.

Naruto shook his head, "Maybe later, but right now I need to talk to you, old man." Naruto said, now turning his head to Makarov. Naruto wanted to get this out of the way as soon as possible.

"Of course, I'm sure you have a lot to ask. Come, we'll talk in a more private area." Makarov said, electing several disappointed groans and complaints to be heard. Makarov and Naruto both ignored these words and set out for the woods.

"We'll be back soon," Naruto assured, throwing his hand over his shoulder and waving. The guild members didn't take their eyes off of the elderly man and the young blonde until they were completely out of sight.

* * *

"Before we begin, do you wish to tend to any injuries? We can post-pone this until you're healed." Makarov said, eyeing Naruto's bloody sleeve.

The duo had been walking for a good five minutes, and about halfway through their walk Makarov had noticed that Naruto had subtly taken the lead. Makarov didn't feel like pointing this out, even though Naruto shouldn't know the layout too well with his short time here, but decided against it. Naruto was probably leading him somewhere for a good reason. Their walk had led them to the wooded area, one that Makarov knew well.

Naruto followed Makarov's gaze to his arm and shook his head. "Nah, I'm not actually injured right now. It just bled a lot before it healed." Naruto said, reaching for the sleeve that Elfman had cut through when he was on his rampage. Naruto made sure not to tear the sleeve any further as he slowly pulled up on the sleeve to reveal his arm, which much to Makarov's surprise, was completely unharmed.

Again, Naruto had surprised him with yet another strange ability. Not only could he beat a mage of Jose's caliber with apparent ease, but could also heal from injuries at an alarming rate, and with how much blood was absorbed into Naruto's sleeve, the should be injuries must have been fairly deep. Yet there wasn't even a scar to show the wounds existence. Was there no limit to Naruto's power? Makarov would have felt a little wary if the blonde showed any sigh of being hostile, but his intuition told him that Naruto would only be a benefit to him and the rest of Fairy Tail.

Getting back to the task at hand, Makarov cleared his throat as they continued walking, "Well then, where do you wish to start? I'll answer whatever I can." Makarov suggested, hoping to prompt Naruto into speaking.

Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Might as well get the hard one out of the way." Naruto said slowly. Makarov watched as Naruto reached into his pouch and pulled out a scroll. Naruto held the scroll tightly and looked straight forward, "Makarov, I'm sure you noticed I how I didn't say anything regarding my fight with Jose."

Makarov did indeed notice this, as well as the forced smile Naruto had on his face when he refused to say anything except that he had defeated Jose. "Yes, I noticed." Makarov said, not exactly liking where this was leading.

"That's because I don't like lying," Naruto stated, "I made Erza get Gray and Elfman out for two reasons. One, Gray and Elfman were unconscious and Erza looked like she was about ready to join them, and two, I wasn't sure how Erza would react if she saw me kill someone. She seems headstrong and righteous. Someone who upholds morals and fair judgment to a high degree. I really don't feel like being at the end of her blade when she doesn't hold back." Naruto said, rubbing his increasingly weary eyes. He was sure to go to sleep after this was over. He remembered his spar with her from when he had first arrived, and even though he gave her a handicap by only using one sword, Erza was also holding back. He had yet to see her at her best. He wasn't sure if he wanted to.

It didn't even take a second for Makarov to realize what Naruto was saying, "You mean…" Makarov asked, trailing off.

Naruto looked at the scroll in his hand, "Yeah, I killed Jose. My abilities mostly aim to kill, and I wasn't going to risk holding back. He had it coming. There were very few outcomes that wouldn't have ended in Jose's death." Naruto finally looked at Makarov, and the elderly mage could see the cold look in his eye, "I wasn't sure what to do with his body, so I treated him how people with bounties are treated in my world. I sealed him in this scroll." Naruto said, holding out his scroll, as if wanting Makarov to take it.

Makarov just stared at the scroll in Naruto's grasp, still not exactly comprehending what Naruto had told him. Jose's corpse was inside of a piece of paper? How was that possible? Jose was a Wizard Saint for crying out loud! Jose might've actually been on par with himself if he didn't have Fairy Law, which he would not have hesitated to use if he had fought Jose instead of Naruto.

Their pace slowed somewhat, mostly due to Naruto compensating for Makarov's slowly decreasing speed as the old man was trying to formulate a response. Naruto didn't retract his arm, thus leaving the scroll hanging near Makarov's head.

After about thirty seconds, Makarov pushed the scroll away, signaling that he didn't want it near him. Naruto easily obliged, smoothly slipping the scroll back into his pocket. Naruto patiently waited for a response from Makarov as he gazed around the trees. They were almost there…

"I believe the Council should be made aware of the now missing Wizard Saint. If not, they might force Fairy Tail to become a scapegoat, since we were directly involved. They've done it to us before, but only to show to the public that they had power over mages. Besides, if Jose were alive, then he would have been charged with kidnapping, assault, and full on siege. The Council encourages the extermination of dark mages, so you might even be commended for eliminating a powerful dark mage." Makarov said, hoping to find a silver lining in all of this.

Naruto looked at Makarov incredulously, "But he was a Wizard Saint, shouldn't that make the rest of them want to bring punishment to whoever freed up a seat of their group?" Naruto asked.

"There is the possibility, but they would most likely seek you out and try to make you join their ranks." Makarov stated, looking up to Naruto in hopes to see a more positive expression appear on the young blonde's face.

Naruto said nothing, only bringing out the scroll once more. It felt heavy, despite it only being paper. "You know more about this world than I do, so I'll do whatever you recommend. But if I end up seeing my head on a bounty board, I'm going off on my own. I'm not dragging you all into this." Naruto firmly stated, tightly clenching the scroll in his hand.

Makarov wanted to retaliate, but instead nodded. There was no point in trying to order someone around who isn't a part of his guild nor was Naruto a resident of this world. Naruto was trying to survive, as well as protect others. Ultimately it was Naruto's call whether or not he did anything.

"Well then," Makarov began, hoping to shift over to a new topic, knowing there was nothing left to be said about this one, "What else did you wish to discuss?"

Naruto put the scroll back into his pocket, his demeanor changing from slight distress to mild awkwardness, "Uh… Well here's the thing…" Naruto said, trying to figure out how to tell Makarov that Juvia wanted to join Fairy Tail. Maybe it would be best to answer this question with another question, "What would happen if someone were to leave Fairy Tail?"

Makarov was a bit surprised by the seemingly random question, but shook it off and tapped his chin in thought, "Hmm… It's actually been so long since someone has done so I'm having trouble remembering." Makarov muttered, but soon snapped his fingers in remembrance, "Ah yes, you are told the rules of leaving by either me or an S-Class mage, and then your guild mark is erased. Quite a painless procedure really." Makarov finished, now quite curious about what brought this new topic on.

Naruto tilted his head, "What are these rules?"

Makarov answered faster than before, "First, you are not allowed to reveal sensitive information about Fairy Tail. Two, you are not allowed to do work for previous clients you have gained when you were a part of the guild. And three…" Makarov drifted off, as if feeling a bit of nostalgia about an old memory, "No matter where you are, you must promise to live your life to the fullest." Makarov said, a nostalgic smile on his face.

Naruto actually wanted to chuckle at that. If leaving Fairy Tail was that easy, then he should have no problems with joining. "Thank you, now here's where things get complicated." Naruto said, drawing back Makarov's full attention.

"What is it boy?" Makarov asked, genuinely curious.

Naruto scratched the back on his head, finally starting to slow his pace considerably, "I sort of made a promise to someone, and it involves them joining your guild." Naruto said, unnecessarily beating around the bush.

"I'm certainly not getting any younger. Out with it boy." Makarov said, slowly losing his monumental patience.

"Am I supposed to come out now?" A feminine voice said from behind a tree. Both Naruto and Makarov turned their heads in the direction of the voice. Naruto noted that Makarov didn't even raise any form of guard. Either he was way too trusting, or he was just that powerful. Especially so when Makarov was actually able to see who the person was. Naruto assumed it was the latter.

"There really wasn't any sort of queue, but this saves an explanation." Naruto said with slight amusement. Naruto watched as Juvia walked up to his and proceeded to huddle behind his back, peaking around his shoulder to look at Makarov. Naruto could feel the guilt rolling off of the rain woman. She must feel really bad about seeing the master of the guild she added in attacking.

"If I am not mistaken, you are Juvia Lockser, one of the Element Four correct?" Makarov asked, not seeming the least bit surprised. If Naruto were Makarov, he would have been extremely cautious and nervous about this situation. A person from another world now appeared to be partnered with a former member of a powerful dark guild.

"Y-yes sir." Juvia responded quietly and politely. She reminded Naruto of a guilty child that was ready to accept their fate. He would know, that was him on multiple occasions. Painting the Hokage Monument isn't exactly funny to everyone. Naruto didn't miss how Juvia was gripping his right sleeve.

"Makarov, I found Juvia during my attack on the Phantom Lord guild. I believe she honestly regrets assisting in the assault on your guild. If I can make a request on her behalf, and I know I am way out of line when I ask this, but can she join your guild?" Naruto almost pleaded, nearly bowing his head fully, but refrained from begging of any sort.

Makarov stared at the duo for what seemed like hours, and after a while Naruto began to sweat. He was starting to believe that he had involuntarily pissed off Makarov to the point where the old man would attack him, but was proven wrong when Makarov did what Naruto wasn't expecting at all.

Makarov shrugged his shoulders, "Sure, that's fine." Makarov said, so close to uncaring Naruto wasn't sure if he needed to repeat the question. Naruto didn't know it, but Makarov was smirking at the stupefied expression Naruto had.

Naruto expected some sort of reaction, like anger, or shock, or… anything really. Makarov just didn't seem all that bothered by it. Naruto was brought back to reality when he felt a tug on his sleeve. Naruto looked over his shoulder to Juvia. Juvia returned his curious gaze with one of expectancy. It was then that Naruto remembered what else he needed to ask.

"Also, I've made my decision." Naruto said, earning a happy smile from Juvia. Naruto turned back to Makarov, who was once again curious about what Naruto was leading to.

"About?"

Naruto took a deep breath to calm his nerves. Things were going to be different after this, "I'd also like to join the guild along with Juvia."

Makarov's eyes widened a bit, and Naruto couldn't help but be annoyed at this.

'Oh come on, you react to me, a complete stranger who you've already offered this request to, but when a former dark make wants to join you just accept it without any sort of question!' Naruto thought in exasperation. He forced himself not to word his thoughts though, and kept his expression calm and ready.

"Are you sure about this Naruto? I know about your… circumstances as to why you are here," Makarov said, not revealing Naruto's otherworldly origins without Naruto's permission, "But if you do this you may grow to enjoy it too much to want to leave. Fairy Tail acts as one big family.

Naruto chuckled, "It's fine. I'm a more in the here and now kind of guy. I'll worry about that later." Naruto replied confidently, ignoring the feeling of Juvia's curious eyes. He might start opening up to Fairy Tail. There really wasn't any sort of drawback to revealing his homeland to these people. Not like they could do anything with the information. Although talking more about his past and such would be much harder. He still may do it eventually, if he felt comfortable enough.

"If you are alright with it, then who am I to refuse a powerful and earnest pair of capable mages?" Makarov said happily. Naruto practically felt Juvia relax behind him, and inch out from around him, feeling much more comfortable around Makarov.

Before the nice moment could go any further, Naruto halted, "Wait…" He muttered, remembering the dead body sealed in the scroll. He still didn't want to drag Fairy Tail into unnecessary conflicts with the Wizard Saints because of what he did. "I might have to hold off on being an official Fairy Tail wizard. I still have to deal with the Wizard Saints. I'm not going to allow Fairy Tail to be dragged into the mud because of me." Naruto said. Juvia frowned and Makarov scowled. The old man was honestly ready to defend the boy from the Wizard Saints, considering the fact that Naruto had saved his guild from Phantom Lord and now wanted to be a member of his guild.

Naruto noticed Juvia's declining expression and sent her a look that said 'I'll tell you later.' Naruto heard Makarov sigh in defeat and brought his attention back to the old man.

Makarov sighed, "No need to worry. You are welcome to remain at my guild until a can get you an appointment with the Wizard Saints. It'll be easy enough seeing as how they will be curious about what happened between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord. For now, I hope you will return to Fairy Tail and get to know everyone better. We'll need help rebuilding, so that'll get you some points within the guild." Makarov finished, beginning his trek back to the remains of his guild hall.

Naruto and Juvia stood together in silence for several brief seconds, until Naruto let out a small chuckle. Naruto turned his body completely until he was facing Juvia.

"Well, we should probably get going. I don't know about you, but I want to help rebuild a building. What do you say?" Naruto asked with a grin.

Juvia didn't hesitate to respond, "Of course. I need to fix what I helped cause, after all." Juvia replied with a sad smile.

Naruto patted her on the shoulder in a show of comfort, "Don't worry about the Fairy Tail mages. From what I've seen they are very accepting people, and in all honesty you did more harm than good by leaving Phantom Lord. Now come on, we've got work to do!" Naruto finished with a shout, throwing a fist into the air. Seeing Juvia's sad smile turn into a happier one, Naruto began to lead them back to Fairy Tail.


End file.
